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SKETCHES 






NORTH CAEOLIIA; ^^s^ 



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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL, .^ f ■'^' 



ILLUSTRATIVE 



OF THE PRINCIPLES 

OF A PORTION OF HER RMILY SETTLERS. 



REV. WILLIAM HENRY FOOTE. 



, NEW YORK: 
ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET 
1846. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 

ROBERT CARTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



V7/ 



DEDICATION- iV 



To the Ministers of the Synod of North Carolina, with whom I have been 
associated in arduous labors for about seven years, and whose counsel and 
assistance and cheerful welcome it has been my happiness to enjoy, — 

MOST RESPECTFULLY : 

And to the Elders and Churches with whom I have labored in the cause 
of benevolence ; whose attachment to sound doctrine and the church of their 
fathers has been so often and so agreeably displayed ; whose hospitality has 
spread around me, times almost innumerable, the comforts and luxuries of 
life,— 

MOST KINDLY : 

And to the Children, who by their affectionate cheerfulness have been my 
solace in hours of weariness and exhaustion ; the hope of the Church and of 
the State,— 

MOST TENDERLY : 

And to the Citizens of the sedate and sober State of North Carolina gene- 
rally, inheriting so much that is estimable from past generations, — 

WITH SENTIMENTS OF STRONG REGARD AND WELL-WISHING ; 

Is this Volume dedicated by 

THE AUTHOR. 

WILLIAM HENRY FOOTE 



Romney, Hampshire County, Virginia, ( 
October, 1846. s 



INTEODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



North Carolina, in the days of colonial dependence, was the refuge of the 
poor and the oppressed. In her borders the emigrant, the fugitive, and the 
exile found a home. Whatever may have been the cause of leaving the land 
of their nativity — political servitude, — tyranny over conscience, — or poverty of 
means, with the hope of bettering their condition, — the descendants of these 
enterprising, suffering, afflicted, yet prospered people, have cause to bless the 
kind Providence that led their fathers, in their wanderings, to such a place of 
rest. 

Her sandy plains, and threatening breakers jutting out into the ocean, met 
the voyagers sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, and the island of Woco- 
ken afforded the landing-place, " as some delicate garden abounding with all 
kinds of odoriferous flowers," and witnessed the ceremonial of taking possession 
of the country for the Queen of England, who soon after gave it the name of 
Virginia. The island of Roanoke, between Pamtico and Albemarle Sounds, in 
the domains of Granganimeo, afforded the first colony of English a home so 
quiet, with a climate so mild, and with fruits so abundant, that the tempest- 
tossed mariners extolled it in their letters to their countrymen as an earthly 
paradise. So no doubt it seemed to them the first summer of their residence, 
in 1685 ; and notwithstanding the disastrous conclusion of that and succeeding 
colonies, so the adjoining country has seemed to many generations that have 
risen, and flourished, and passed away, in the long succession of years, since 
the wife of Granganimeo, in savage state, feasted the first adventurers. 

Her extended champaign around the head streams of the numerous rivers 
that flow through her own borders, and those of South Carolina, to the ocean, 
cherished into numbers, and wealth, and civil and religious independence, the 
emigrants from a rougher climate and more unfriendly soil, of the north of Ire- 
land and the Highlands of Scotland. The quiet of the vast solitudes and forests 
of North Carolina lured these hard-working men, who, in their poverty and 
transatlantic subjection, cherished the principles of religion, wealth and inde- 
pendence, to seek in them the abode of domestic blessedness, and the repose of 
liberty. Far from the ocean, in a province without seaports, and unfrequented 
by wealthy emigrants, the clustered settlements had space and time to follow 
out their principles of religion, morality and politics to their legitimate ends ; 
and the first declaration of Entire Independence of the British crown was heard 
in the province that afforded a resting-place to the first colony. 



X INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

Carolina was settled by emigrants from diiTerent parts of the kingdom of 
Great Britain and her American provinces, in such numbers, and in such re- 
mote situalioa^that it is comparatively easy to follow the line of their descend- 
ants, and trac^ut the workings of their principles and habits upon themselves, 
the commonwealth, and the country at large. Every state of society owes 
much of its character for excellence or demerit, to the generations that pre- 
ceded ; the present is a reflected image of the past ; and men must search among 
their ancestors for the principles, and causes, and springs of action, and mould- 
ing influences, that have made society and themselves what they are. The 
present generation of Carolinians look back to the men that drove the wild 
beasts from the forests, and displaced the savages, as the fathers of a republic 
more blessed than the most favored of antiquity ; and may well ask what 
principles of religion and morals, — what habits made us what we are. In an- 
swer to these questions there is no good civil histoiy of the State ; and with the 
honorable exception of the life of Caldwell, by Mr. Caruthers, there is no church 
history ; and the traditions that reached back to the settlement of the country, 
are, for the most part, passing away, or becoming dimmed in the horizon of uncer- 
tainty. The prospect, then, is, that the coming generations will be ignorant of 
their ancestors and their deeds, and like the Greeks and Romans, be compelled 
to go back to a fabulous antiquity to search in dreams and conjectures for the 
first link in a chain of causes, the progression of which is so full of blessedness. 

It may be well for some people, that the mist of antiquity hides in uncer-. 
tainty, the lowness of their origin ; and that aspersion has sometimes been cast 
on Carolina. But if any people may glory in their forefathers, the Carolinians, 
at least a part of them, may glory in theirs, and cherish their principles with 
the firm confidence that they will make their descendants better, and the pro- 
gress of excellence shall never end. No human mind can tell with certainty, 
•or even conjecture plausibly, where the principles of the men, that did so much 
for their posterity, will lead ; though they may be certain the pathway shall be 
resplendent, and the goal glorious. 

The history of principles is the history of States. And the youth of Caro- 
lina might study both on one interesting page, were there a fair record of past 
events presented to their perusal. They might learn at home something better 
than the histories of Greece and Rome, or the Assyrian and Babylonian, or all 
the eastern and western empires of the world, have ever taught. They would 
find examples worthy of all praise, and actions deserving a generous emulation. 
They would be impressed most deeply with the conviction that people and ac- 
tions worthy of such examples must be the citizens and the acts of the happiest 
nation on earth. 

The following pages are an effort to open the way for some future historian 
to do full justice to the past, by recording the events that are so honorable, and 
to the future by presenting a page full of interest and instruction, all true, and 
all encouraging. They contain the history of the Presbyterian population of 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XI 

North Carolina as far as it has been yet collected from traditions, records of the 
churches and ecclesiastical bodies and printed volumes that refer incidentally 
to this people and their principles and their doings. Though the history of a 
denomination, it is not sectarian, because it must of necessit^e the history of 
a large part of the State ; and because it is also a fair record of events. Every 
denomination has the liberty of producing a series of events in their past history 
of equal or greater interest, and it will be neither bigoted, sectarian, or am- 
bitious. 

The author has had some peculiar advantages in gathering the facts related 
in the following pages. For about seven years he was constantly engaged in 
the active duties of Secretary of Foreign Missions ; and in their fulfilment was 
called to visit most of the Presbyterian congregations in North Carolina and 
Virginia repeatedly. In conversation with the aged ministers and members of 
the church, he heard many things to which he listened with emotion, and asked 
to hear them again ; and then repeated them to others ; and then wrote them 
down ; and then corrected and enlarged the notes ; and then occasionally pub- 
lished a chapter in the Watchman of the South, the reading of which often 
induced persons in possession of interesting facts to communicate them either 
to the writer personally, or to the public through the Watchman ; and then to 
consulting manuscripts and records as far as they were known to have any 
relation to the matters in hand, or as they fell in his way, and commonly he 
stumbled, as it were, upon them most unexpectedly, as he passed around in his 
arduous undertakings ; and then as the agency in which he was engaged was 
drawing to a close, in looking over the memoranda of interesting events that 
had accumulated upon his hands, the -purpose was formed of making a volume 
of sketches relating to past events in the Presbyterian settlements of Virginia 
and Carolina, few of which had ever been in print except in the columns of a 
weekly periodical, and most were fast passing away from the knowledge of the 
living, as that generation whose fathers were actors in the most interesting 
scenes of the early settlement, and from whom many of these traditions were 
received by the writer, were fast entering the unseen world, when he com- 
menced committing their communications to paper, and have now but here and 
there a solitary representative in the land of the living. In this state of the 
case the Synod of North Carolina, during the anpual session held in Fayette- 
ville, November, 1844, by a committee, invited the writer to use his materials, 
arid others that might be put into his hands, in preparing a history of the Pres- 
byterian Church in North Carolina ; such a history as might show the influ- 
ence of Presbyterian doctrines, habits, and population, upon the past and present 
generations of citizens of the North State, and in some degree also upon the 
population of those States which owe much to the emigration from Carolina. 
The only hesitation the writer felt in acceding to this honorable proposal, arose 
from the circumstance, that as the population of a part of Virginia and North 
Carolina were homogeneous, and were for a long time connected in the same 



XU INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

Presbytery, and have always since been more or less connected in tlieir religious 
and benevolent actions, there might arise a difSculty in giving a fair history of 
tlie church and people, disconnected from the church in Virginia, which was 
senior in point oPtirae and always intimately connected in action. But upon 
farther reflection and conversation with judicious friends, it appeared there were 
ample materials, purely Carolinian, to form a volume of the size desired by the 
generality of readers, and equally as ample materials, purely Virginian, for 
another ; and the gratification of the readers, and the public advantage, would 
be consulted by giving the volumes separate. The invitation of Synod was 
then, after a few explanations, accepted, and the brethren generally most cheer- 
fully made offer of their collections of facts and materials for the history, which 
they had for some time been gathering respecting their own particular charges. 
The writer is under particular obligations to many individuals for the mate- 
rials for the succeeding volume. To Rev. John Robinson, D.D., now no more, 
from whom he received the first impulse to make the collection of traditions, by 
hearing from liim, at his own fireside, the recital of some of the events tliat must 
immortalize Mecklenburg ; and whom he visited for the purpose of correcting 
and enlarging his traditions, in December, 1843, and found preparations making 
for his funeral ; — a noble, urbane, powerful preacher of the gospel : to Rev. 
E. B. Currie, in whose retired cottage the writer gathered the principal facts 
relating to Rev. James McGready and the revivals that accompanied and fol- 
lowed his preaching ; and many of the facts respecting the churches in Gran- 
ville and Caswell counties ; the infirmities of whose age but enrich his experi- 
ence : to the Rev. Robert Tate, from whom I received much that is recorded 
respecting the churches in the eastern part of the State, himself the patriarch, 
of the present churches in New Hanover : to the Rev. Dr. Morrison, for ma- 
terials for the interesting Memoir of his father-in-law, J. Graham ; and also for 
much concerning Dr. Hunter and Dr. Wilson: to Dr. T. C. Caldwell, for 
many traditions relating to Sugaw Creek, received from his father, and for an 
interesting visit to the old grave-yard : to Dr. Hunter, of Goshen, for many 
facts and incidents concerning his father, Rev. Humphrey Hunter, D.D. : to 
Rev. Eli W. Caruthers, for the valuable selections from, his Life of Rev. David 
Caldwell, D.D. : to ex-Governor Swain, President of the University of North 
Carolina, for materials for the sketch of the University, and Rev. Joseph Cald- 
well, D.D., and for other interesting facts : to Rev. Colin Mclvor, stated clerk 
of the Synod, for a copy of the minutes of the Synod of the Carolinas, and for 
the translation of a Gaelic pamphlet : to Mr. Charles W. Harris, for some 
curious manuscripts relating to Poplar Tent, from the pen of Mrs. Alexander : 
to Rev. Alexander Wilson, D.D., for facts concerning the county of Granville, 
and the church in Ireland previous to the emigration : and to Rev. JNIessrs. 
Cyi-us Johnson, J. M. M. Caldwell, John M. Wilson, James M. H. Adams, E, 
F. Rockwell, A. Gilchrist, C. Shaw, and Archibald Smith, for manuscripts, 
pamphlets and volumes relating to the history of Presbyterianism m their con- 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XIU 

gregations : to Governors Morehead and Graham, and the public officers ' in 
Raleigh, for access to the records of the State and the public library : to Dr. 
Ramsey, of Tennessee, for much valuable information : and to J. S. Jones, 
the author of the Defence of North Carolina, from which many interesting 
facts have been borrowed : and to Dr. Pattillo, of Charlotte, for many papers 
relating to his grandfather. Other sources of information are acknowledged 
in the body of the work. 

It is more than possible that upon the perusal of these pages other documents 
will be brought to light that shall confirm the principal facts here produced, 
add others, and perhaps modify some. 

The strict order of chronology could not be followed in the succession of 
chapters, but it is, as far as possible, in the events themselves, and also in the 
narration. 

The volume takes the name of '■ Slceiches," rather than that of " Hislory," for 
reasons that will be apparent on perusal ; and the author has but one cause of 
dissatisfaction in reviewing the work, and that is, that the Sketches are not 
more worthy of the scenes and the actors. 



I 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE FIRST DECLARATIOIV OF IZVDEPENDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA, MAY, 1775. 

The Village of Charlotte, its Situation, and Origin of its Name. The Con- 
vention, May 19th, 1775, the Preparatory Steps, its Organization and 
Object. An Incident related by General Graham. Committee present the 
Resolutions drawn by Dr. Brevard. The Mecklenburg Declaration, 
Unanimously Adopted. The Second Mecklenburg Declaration. 
Capt. Jack takes the Declaration to Philadelphia, reads the Papers in Sa- 
lisbury, is opposed by Dunn and Boote. The Delegates decline laying 
the Declaration before Congresi; Circulation and Preservation of the 
Copies. The Action of the Committee in the Case of Dunn and Boote. 
Associations first formed according to the Recommendations of Continental 
Congress. Provincial Council. County Committees of Safety. A Certi- 
ficate. First Declaration of Independence by the Constituted 
Authorities of a State. Inquiry concerning the Origin of the People 
forming the Convention 33 

CHAPTER II. 

BLOOD SHED ON THE ALAMANCE— T^e First Blood SJicd ill tlic Revolutton, 
May \<3th, XTif 

The Situation and Origin of the name of Hillsborough ; its Connection with 
Past Events. Discontent in Orange and neighboring Counties. Governor 
Tryon marches to Orange with Armed Forces ; his first Visit and its Fail- 
ure. The Excitement of the People. The Eastern men mistake the 
Western. The Commencement of the Disturbances. The Sheriff hin- 
dered in his Duty, 17G0. Pamphlet in Granville, 17G5. Causes of the Com- 



XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

plaints among the People. Frauds of Childs and Corbin in Signing Pa- 
tents. The Proclamations Disregarded. Example of Hardship in going 
to Market. Proposed meeting at Maddock's Mill, Oct. 10th, 1766. Meet- 
ing at Deep River. Fanning's opinion of the Meeting. Another Meet- 
ing, 1767. Commencement of the Regulatioiv. Building the Govern- 
or's Palace in Newbern. Another Meeting in 176S addresses the Govern- 
or ; his reply. Unjustifiable outbreaks unfairly charged on the Regula- 
tion. Governor Proclaims the Regulation an Insurrection ; Ninian Bell 
Hamilton. The Regulators in Arms, August 11th, 176S. The Governor's 
Justice, his Proclamation. The persons excepted. Report of Maurice 
Moore, 1776. Extract from Records of Court in Hillsborough. Acts of 
Personal violence ; a Mock Trial. Four New Counties made. The Go- 
vernor's Circular, 1771. General Waddel goes to Salisbury. The Black 
Boys. Waddel retires before the Regulators. Orders. Certificate. Go- 
vernor crosses the Haw, May 13th, approaches the Regulators ; Negotia- 
tion. The Governor kills Robert Thompson. The Flag of Truce fired 
on. The Governor commands his men to fire. Regulators Routed. 
Governor hangs James Few. Case of Captain Messer. Governor leads 
his prisoners in chains. Execution of six prisoners near Hillsborough. 
Tryon returns to Newbern. Fanning's Flight. Husband's Flight. In- 
quiry into the origin of the men engaged in the Regulation ..... 46 



CHAPTER III. 

A PAPER ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, IN 1775. 

Widow Brevard ; her son Alexander. Judge Brevard. Her son Ephraim : 
his Education ; the part he took in the Convention in Mecklenburg ; the 
Circumstances of his Death. Death of Mrs. Jackson. Instructions for 
THE Delegates of Mecklenburg County. The Principles of Civil 
and Religious Liberty 6& 

CHAPTER IV. 

commencement of PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH CAROLINA 

The Emigrants previous to about 1736, from Virginia, Colonies of Huguenots 
and Palatines. Quakers or Frlmds. The Presbyterians in Duplin, and 
in Frederick, Augusta, and Virginia. Settlements on the Eno. West- 
ern Counties set off. Encouragement to Emigrate. Lord Granville's por- 
tion of Carolina set off. The Scotch on Cape Fear. Congregations and 
Churches in the Upper Country. Origin of the people worthy of notice. 
Influence of Religious Principle 77 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. Xvii 

CHAPTER V. 

ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 

To be found in Ireland under Elizabeth and James. Reformation in Eng- 
land partly "Voluntary ; in Ireland Involuntary. King's Supremacy ac- 
knowledged, 1536. The Bible in Ireland, 1550. Conspiracy of Tyrconnel 
and Tyrone, 1605, and Ulster forfeited to the Crown. The Province sur- 
veyed by Chichester and allotted to three kinds of occupants. Lands gen- 
erally occupied, 1610. Stewart's account of the Emigrants to Ireland. 
Con O'Neill loses part of his Estate. Emigrants under Montgomery. 
Situationof the County in 1618. The name /Sco^cA-ZmA ; their character. 84 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN IRELAND FROM THE TIME OF THE EMIGRATION FROM 
SCOTLAND TO THE FIRST EFFORT TO EMIGRATE TO AMERICA, 1631. 

The Emigrants from Scotland. Stewart's character of them. The opinion 
in Scotland about the Emigration. Christian Ministers go over to Ireland 
to the Emigrants :— 1st, Edward Brice ; 2d, John Ridge; 3d, M. Hub- 
bard; 4th, James Glendenning ; 5th, Robert Cunningham ; 6th, Robert 
Blair ; 7th, James Hamilton. The Success of these Ministers. Com- 
mencement of the Great Revival. Stewart's account of it. Th e Month- 
ly Meeting at Antrim. Stewart's and Blair's account of it. More 
Ministers pass over to Ireland. The 8th, Josias Welch ; 9th, Andrew 
Stewart; 10th, George Dunbar; Andrew Brown, the Deaf Mute; 11th, 
Henry Colwort ; 12th, John Livingston, of Kirks, ofShott's Memory ; 13th, 
John McClelland ; 14th, John Semple. Monthly Meeting at Antrim im- 
proved. Bodily Exercises no mark of Religion. ». . 91 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE EAGLE WING, OR FIRST ATTEMPT AT EMIGRATION FROM IRELAND TO 
AMERICA. 

Cause of the attempt at Emigration. Four Ministers forbid the Ministry. 

- Delegates appointed to New England. Cotton Mather's notice of the mat- 
ter. The Eagle Wing sails, 1636, with a band of Emigrants. Livingston's 
account of the Voyage. Child Baptized at sea. Vessel driven back to 
Ireland. The reception of the Emigrants. The Ministers return to Scot- 
land in 1637 ; their flocks go over to receive the Sacraments. The Influ- 
ence of these men on Ireland and the World 10-i 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER Vlir. 

FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IV IRELAND. 

First Meeting of a Presbytery in Ireland, 1642. Steps Preparatory. Con- 
vocation of the Irish Clergy appointed Usher to draw up a Confession of 
Faith. Its character. Heylin's account of the Church in Usher's time. 
Blair and Livingston's course respecting Ordination. Laymen conduct 
public worship after the Clergy retire to Scotland. The Scottish army 
introduced to crush Rebellion, 1641. Massacre of Protestants. Six Chap- 
lains accompany the Scotch regiments; also Mr. Livingston. Regular 
Presbyterian Churches formed in the Regiments. The Presbytery Con- 
stituted. Sessions formed in the country around. The people petition the 
General Assembly of Scotland for Supplies. Six Ministers sent to regu- 
late the Churches. The Congregation take possession of some of the va- 
cant Parish Churches. Some persons Episcopally ordained, join the Pres- 
bytery. Solemn League and Covenant adopted in Scotland, 1643, and in 
many parts of Ireland, 1644. Its effect. Number of Presbyterian Minis- 
ters in Ireland from 1647 to 1657. The first Presbytery^divided into five 
Presbyteries. Number of Ministers in 1660 and in 1689. The Presbyte- 
ry of Lagan license the first Presbyterian Minister settled in the United 
States ; Francis Makemie. . . IDS' 



CHAPTER IX. 

TtlE POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH EMIGRANTS. 

They were Loyal. Reasons for their ancestors being chosen to colonise Ire- 
land. Their views of the authority of Parliament after the King's Death . 
How the Magistrates are to be chosen. 2d. They insisted on choosing 
their own Ministers of Religion ; this the source of all their trouble ; Re- 
publicans in their nations. 3d. They demanded ordination by Presbyters 
instead of Bishops. 4th. Strict discipline in morals and in the instruc- 
tion of Youth. Their views of Education. Connection of their Religion 
with their politics. Their agreement in fundamentals ; and disagreement 
in smaller matters 120 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON THE RIVER CAPE FEAR, AND THE REVE- 
REND JAMES CAMPBELL. 

Some families Settled as early as 1729. The Clark family as early as 1730, 
from the Hebrides. Charles Edward, the Pretender, appears, laas^in 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Scotland. The heads of the great Clans against his plans ; joined by the 
young men. Is for a time successful. Is ruined at CuUoden. Executions 
follow his defeat ; the country laid waste ; but the Prince escapes. An- 
ecdote of a Scotch gentleman. Anecdote of Kennedy. The Rebels con- 
demned; 17 suffer, the rest exiled, go to Cape Fear; causes of settling 
there. The Religion of the Scotch. No Minister came with the first 
Emigrants. The Rev. James Campbell ; birth-place ; emigrates to Ame- 
rica ; gives over Preaching. By means of Whitefield resumes his Minis- 
try. Emigrates to Cape Fear. His extensive labors ; his regular preach- 
ing places. Bluff and its Elders. Barbacue and its Elders. Use of th(? 
Gaelic Language. The Rev. John McLeod 



CHAPTER XL 

THE POLITICAL OPINIONS OF THE SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 

The Scotch not Radicals ; desired a Government of Law. The Bible their 
guide. Revolution, Natural right in given cases. Their National Cov- 
enants ; their object. Hetherington's view of the Covenants. Rutherford's 
Lex Rex. Charles 2d and James 1st, swore to the Covenants ; the Oath. 
Division of sentiment about the Revolution. The Association in Cum- 
berland, drawn by Robert Rowan, 1775. Governor Martin commissions 
Donald M'Donald as Brigadier. He erects the Royal Standard, Feb., 1776. 
The Camp at Campbellton, or Cross Creeks. Col. Moore marches against 
him M'Donald sends an Embassy. Moves down to Moore's Creek. 
Makes an attack on Caswell and Livingston, and is defeated. The action 
of the Provincial Congress respecting the Prisoners 1.37 



CHAPTER XII. 

FLORA m'DONALD. 

Her first appearance in the Trials of the Pretender. Roderick Makenzie. 
The Prince lands on South Uist ; is followed by three thousand armed 
men. Plans for his escape in disguise. Appeal to Flora M'Donald ; she 
accepts the offer. O'Neill joins. Interview with the Prince. A Pass- 
port procured for the Prince disguised as a servant. The danger of disco- 
very. They set sail. A tempest. Land at Kilbride, New dangers from 
Soldiers; escape. The Prince's farewell. His escape from Scotland. 
Flora M'Donald seized and conveyed to London. The companions of her 
confinement. The nobility become interested in her favor. Prince Frede- 
rick procures her release. She is introduced at Court, loaded with pre- 
sents and sent home. Marries Allen M'Donald and emigrates to North 
Carolina. Her stay at Cross Creeks, at Cameron's Hill, and in Anson 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



County ; joins the Royal Standard at Cross Creeks. After her husband's 
release they return to Scotland. Attacked by a Privateer on the Voyage ; 
her heroism. Her family ; [the close of her life; her burial-place. . . . 148 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HUGH m'ADEN and THE CHURCHES IN DlfpLIN, NEW HANOVER AND CASWELL. 

The first Presbyterian Minister that visited North Carolina. Missionaries 
sent by the Synod. The oldest Presbyterian Congregation in the State in 
Duplin. The Welsh Tract. Their position on the Map. M'Aden's pa- 
rentage, &c. M'Aden's Journal. The earliest Missionary Journal in 
Carolina that has been preserved. Passes through Berkeley and Frederick 
Counties in Virginia. Stops at Opecquon. Stays some time in Augusta. 
Visits John Brown of Providence. Keeps a day of Fasting on Timber 
Ridge. At Forks of James River receives news of Braddock's Defeat. 
Crosses the mountain and goes to Mr. Henry's Congregation. Enters 
North Carolina. Commences his Mission proper. Visits Eno and Tar 
River. Returns to Eno. Goes to the Hawfield, to the Buffalo Settlement. 
Goes to the Yadkin. Crosses Yadkin and passes slowly on to Sugar 
Creek. Sets off for South Carolina. Lodges out for the first time. Des- 
titution in the upper part of South Carolina. Retraces his steps to the 
Yadkin, and then turns down the country towards the Cape Fear. Visits 
the Scotch settlements. Goes to Wilmington. Goes to the Welsh Tract, 
and is detained by their entreaties. Visits Goshen. Calls made out for 
him from Goshen and the Welsh Tract. Sets out for home. Meets Go- 
vernor Dobbs. Crosses Pamtico. Goes to the Red Banks. Stops at Fish- 
ing Creek. Goes to Nutbush. Revisits Hico, Hawfields and the Eno. 
Journal ends abruptly and leaves him at McMessaer on James River. 
M'Aden's labors as Pastor in North Carolina. His residence in Duplin. 
Removes to Caswell. Extract from letter from Dr. M'Aden. House 
plundered by the British Army. Place of Burial. Churches in Duplin 
and New Hanover after his removal. Rev. Messrs. Dr. Robinson, Mr. 
Stanford, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Mclver. Mr. James Tate ; his visits up Black 
River ; his character. William Bingham. Colin Lindsey ; difficulties ; 
removes; suspended; his wife. Rev. Robert Tate. M'Aden's places of 
Preaching while residing in Caswell. Formation of Upper, Middle, and 
Lovi'er Hico. Bethany or Rattlesnake. A Preaching place in Pittsylva- 
nia. The Bell family 158 

CHAPTER XIV. 

CHURCH OF SUGJ^CREEK : ITS FIRST MINISTER, ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 

The third Minister in Carolina. His ancestry. Rev. Thomas Craighead. 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

First Ecclesiastical notice of Alexander Craighead, in connexion with Mr. 
John Paul. They adopt the Confession. Mr. Craighead's fanner of 
preaching. Gets into difficulties with his brethren. Defends himself. 
Case carried up to Synod. He withdraws with the New Brunswick Pres- 
bytery. Removes to Virginia. A Member of Hanover Presbytery. Flies 
from Virginia and is settled in Carolina. Here ends his days, 1776. His 
love of Liberty. His Pamphlet. His situation in Mecklenburg. Sows 
THE Seeds of the Mecklenburg Declaration. The Settlement of 
this Upper country. The two tides of Emigration. The line of settle- 
ment. Location of Sugar Creek Meeting House. The Parent of the 
Seven Congregations. The Prairies. Extent of the Congregations. 
The bounds of the Seven settled in 1764. A visit to the old grave-yard. 
Craighead's Grave. His Family. Joseph, Alexander. Grave-yard at 
the Brick Church S. C. Caldwell ; his Services, Character and Manner. 
The Alexanders. Their Emigration. Lord Stirling. Mrs. Jackson and 
Jier son. Buford's Defeat. Mrs. Flinn. Neighboring Localities. . . . 



CHAPTER XV. 

HOPEWELL AND THE RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 

■Situation of Hopewell. Capt. Bradley. General Davidson. John M'Knitt 
Alexander. Settlement of the Country. Anecdote of Alexander and Dr. 
Flinn. State of Society. The papers of the Convention. Judge Came- 
ron's Statement. Reasons for the temporary obscurity of the Convention. 
The Convention called in question. Dr. Alexander vindicates it. Testi- 
mony of different persons ; Dr. Hunter-, General Graham, and Major David- 
son, and Dr. Cummins, and Mr. Jack, and Col. Polk, of Raleigh. Obitu- 
ary of Dr. H. M'Knitt Alexander. Rules of Union between the Churches 
of Hopewell and Sugar Creek in 1793 209 

CHAPTER XVL 

THE REV. HENRY PATTILLO AND THE CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE, 

Mr. Davies becomes acquainted with Pattillo, Mr. Pattillo goes to reside 
with him. His reasons for commencing a journal. Extracts from it ; his 
birth ; becomes a merchant's 'clerk ; removes to Virginia ; commences 
teaching school; his religious convictions; oral meditations; an error; 
his desire to preach the Gospel ; his Licensure ; how sustained while 
preparing for the Ministry ; his house struck with lightning. Extracts 
from Records of Hanover Presbytery. Goes to Hawfields, N, C, 17(55. 
Removes to Granville, 1774. Member of Provincial Congress, 1775. Ex- 
tracts from the records of Provincial Congress. The Churches in Gran- 
ville. First Sacrament. Anecdote of Tennant. Extract from a Will 
2 



XXll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

made 1 782. Act of the Congregations. Mr. Pattillo's marriage ; his Col- 
lege Degree ; his writings and publications ; his death. Extract from Mr. 
Lacey's funeral sermon. Extract from a letter respecting his death. His 
successors, John Matthews, M. Currie and S. L. Graham. Origin of Con- 
gregations of Hawfields and Eno. Visits of Missionaries; M' Aden's visit 
in 1755 and '5G ; Mr. Debou,- William Hodges, William Paisley. First 
Camp Meetings in the Southern States. Mr. E. B. Currie, Sam- 
uel Paisley ; other supplies. Death of John Paisley. The Regulators 
not ignorant people 213 

CHAPTER XVn. 

DAVID CALDWELL, D.D., AND THE CHURCHES IN ORANGE. 

Unusual time of Ministerial services. Birth and parentage of Dr. Caldwell, 
His admission to the Church. Takes his degree in College at the age of 
thirty-six. Prepares for the ministry. His frankness and persever- 
ance. Extract from minutes of Synod of New York and New Jersey. 
The Congregation of Buffalo. Caldwell visits Carolina. Alamance 
organized. Mr. Caldwell's commission as Missionary. Is ordained 
July, 1765; installed, 1768; married, 1766; opens a Classical School; 
his success in educating youth. Mrs. Caldwell's influence. Revivals in 
his school. He practises Medicine. Is a close student. Orange Presby- 
tery formed. The character of the Regulators. Mr. Caldwell's inter- 
course with them. His sufferings in the war. His labors and influence 
after the Revolution. Section of the Constitution. Harmonizes with 
Dr. Brevard in his paper of 1775. Public favor seeks him. Appointment 
of Clerk of a Court. His sermon during the last war with England. De- 
gree of D.D. conferred on him by the University of N. C. His death. 
Death of Mrs. Caldwell. Their Burial-place. Dilly Paine, or the Tra- 
dition about Mrs. Paisley 231 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

NEW PROVIDENCE AND ITS MINISTERS. 

Situation of New Providence. Few manuscripts left. Wallis' grave. First 
Minister of Providence. His nephew. W. R. Davie, Major and Colonel. 
Rev. Robert Henry. Articles of agreement with Clear Creek. Thomas 
Reese. The sufferings of the Congregation. James Wallis' birth and 
education. His contest with Infidelity. The character of the Revolu- 
tionary soldiers in Mecklenburg and Upper Carolina. Anecdote of old 
Mr. Alexander. The discussion about the Bible. An Infidel Debating 
Society. Cause of dissatisfaction about Psalmody ; a division follows. 
Great Camp Meeting. He teaches a Classical School Is made Trustee 
of the University. Sharon set off as a Church. 244 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



[AJOR-GENERAL JOSEPH GRAHAM. 



His place of residence. His employment. His habits of intercourse. His 
origin. Time and.place of his birth. His education. Enters the army, 
1778. In various expeditions. Taken with a fever. At work in the 
field when the news of the enemy's approach reached him. Takes the 
field as Adjutant. The attack on Charlotte. The enemy three times re- 
pulsed. The Carolina forces retreat. Locke killed. Graham left for 
dead. Revives and is conveyed away. Taken to the Hospital. After his 
recovery raises a company of fifty-five men at his own expense, Dec, 1780. 
Battle of Cowpens, Jan. 17S1. Posted at Cowan's Ford. Davidson killed. 
Graham follows the enemy. Surprises Hart's Mill. At the surprise of 
Col. Pyles. The time of enlistment expiring, his men return home. Ru- 
therford raises a force and Graham becomes Major. Marches to Wil- 
mington. His last engagement. Sheriff. Member of Assembly. Mar- 
ries. Removes to Lincoln county. Appointed General. Marches against 
the Indians. Basis of his political creed. Extract from Judge Murphy's 
Oration. His religious creed. His moral and religious character and in- 
tercourse with men. Death and burial. His Portrait . 251 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF KING's MOUNTAIN. 

By whom drawn up. Situation of the country after Gates's defeat, 1780. 
Cornwallis sends out Col. Ferguson. His march. The increase of his 
force. Their arms. His threats to the Mountain Men (Tennesseeans and 
Kentuckians). McDowell, and Sevier, and Shelby, in consultation. Raise 
forces. The number in camp at place of rendezvous. Ferguson retreats 
and sends a dispatch to Cornwallis. His march to King's mountain. The 
Colonels send for a General Officer. In the meantime Col. Campbell 
commands. Col. Williams of South Carolina joins them on their march. 
Approach Ferguson's Camp. Plan of Battle. Come in sight of the ene- 
my. Position of the enemy's camp. Order of the troops. The battle be- 
gins. Ferguson charges and is driven back ; second and third charge. 
Fire all round the mountain. Ferguson charges repeatedly and is driven 
back ; is wounded ; is killed. Bearer of the flag shot down ; another is 
raised. They throw down their arms. The killed and wounded. The 
court-martial. Executions. Monument to Major Chronicle and others. 
Col. Williams. Colonels M'Dowell, Hambrite, Sevier and Cleveland. 
Col. Campbell, of Virginia; his burial place. Anecdote of Col. Ferguson. 
Anecdote of Campbell. Anecdote of Preston 264 



XXIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE BATTLE AT GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 

Plan of the battle. Circumstances of the pursuit. Its end. Burnino- of 
M' Aden's library. The preludes of the battle. Col. Webster's escape. 
Cornwallis in Buffalo Congregation ; in Alamance ; at Dr. Caldwell's. The 
sufferings of the family. The burning of his library. The commence- 
ment of the battle. The battle-ground. The situation of Greene's army. 
Extract of a letter showing the effects of the first fire. Extract from a 
soldier's diary. Death of Col. Webster. The militia. , . , . . 2T^ 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THE CAROLINAS FROM 1788 TO 1801, INCLUSIVE, 
WITH A ROLL OF THE MEMBERS. 

Formation of the Synod. The Presbyteries and their members. The first 
meeting in Centre Rowan. An overture respecting the Catechism. Sec- 
ond meeting. The report respecting the Catechism taken up again. Over- 
ture on horse-racing, card-playing, dancing and revelling. Overture on at- 
tending on divine worship. Ordered that the overtures and answers 
be read in all the churches. Marriage with wife's sister's daughter 
condemned. Third Meeting. Overtures for printing part of Dr. Dod- 
dridge's works. Day of Thanksgiving. Fourth Meeting. Preparation,' 
made for printing Dr. Doddridge's work on Regeneration, and his Rise 
and Progress. Decision respecting Psalmody. Question respecting Uni- 
versalists sent up to the Assembly. Question respecting admitting Mem- 
bers, are they to assent to the Confession of Faith 7 &c. Commission of 
Synod appointed. Steps taken to collect materials for history of the Pres- 
byterian Church. Domestic Missions commenced in earnest. Fom- Mis- 
sionaries appointed. Statistical reports from the Presbyteries of Orange 
and South Carolina. Fifth Meeting. Decision of the General Assembly 
on the question sent up the last meeting respecting admitting Univer- 
salists to communion, in the negative. Printing of Doddridge's work. Re- 
port from the Commission of Synod on Missionary operations. A peculiar 
instruction to the missionaries. Their report on judicial business. Synod 
approved their doings. Sixth Meeting. Erring members to be speedily called 
upon. Letter from the Rev Henry Pattillo ; his request that it be admitted 
to record. Propose to send out laymen rather than seize upon foreigners. 
Report concerning Doddridge's works. Commission of Synod report con- 
cerning the Missionaries. Seventh Meeting. Synod direct the Presby- 
tery of Orange to decide on the case of Mr. Archibald ; which they forth- 
with did, and he was suspended. Directions respecting materials for his- 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXV 

tory of the Church. Commission of Synod report respecting the Mission- 
aries ; full report. Mutual reports from Ministers and Sessions to Presby- 
teries. Eighth Meeting. Direct the Presbytery of Orange to ordain Mr. 
McGee sine titulo. Presbytery of Orange divided and Concord consti- 
tuted. Report to Synod respecting the printing of Doddridge's works. 
Day of fasting appointed. JVinth Meeting. Failure of printing Dod- 
dridge's work. Hopewell Presbytery set off. Question respecting the evi- 
dence of baptized slaves. Injunction to give slaves religious instructions. 
Attention of Synod taken up by the difficulties in Abingdon Presbytery ; 
a new Presbytery constituted there. Mr. Gilleland's memorial about his 
course respecting slavery. Synod agree with his Presbytery. Tenth 
Meeting. A Commission of Synod appointed ; suspend the Independent 
Presbytery. Minutes of the Commission of Synod. Its members ; 14 
ministers and 12 elders. The Commission restore the suspended mem- 
bers. Charges against Hezekiah Balch. 1st charge ; of this he was 
cleared. 2d charge ; false doctrines. This referred to the General As- 
sembly ; a curious statement. 3d charge ; in part sustained. 4th charge ; 
on this he was condemned by the Commission as irregular. Abingdon 
Presbytery divided, and Union Presbytery set off. Overture on promis- 
cuous communion. Eleventh Meeting. Suspension removed from Mr. 
Crawford. Charges against Mr. Balch read. Mr. Balch brings charges 
against the old session. Extraordinary Session, 1799. Thirty folio pages 
of evidence produced and read. 3d and 4th charges against Mr, Balch 
not sustained. On the 5th charge the Synod decided against Mr. Balch.. 
The two other charges not sustained. Synod suspend Mr. Balch and four 
elders. The matter settled. Twelfth Meeting, 1799. Overture on the 
subject of marriage in the forbidden degree. Mr. Bowman's case taken 
up. Reports from four of the Presbyteries. South Carolina Presbytery 
divided. Thirteenth Meeting. Two independent Ministers invited to a 
seat. Overture respecting a petition to the Legislature on Abolition dis- 
missed. The Missionary business. Two Missionaries sent to the Natch es. 
Will a private acknowledgment of wrong be taken for a public confes- 
sion? Negative. Mr. Balch complains of the Presbytery of Abingdon. 
Greenville Presbytery set off. Complaint about Mr. Witherspoon. Four- 
teenth Meeting. Reports from the Missionaries to the Natches. Case of 
incestuous marriage. Mr. Balch's complaints taken up. Mr. Wither- 
spoon's case decided. Synod's solemn recommendations. Synod ordered 
the subject of Missions to be laid before the Congregations, and collections 
to be taken up. Case of Green Spring and Sinking Spring. Missionaries 
to Mississippi Territory 2S1 

CHAPTER XXni. 

EMIGRATION TO TENJVESSEE. 

Tennessee settled early from Carolina. Meaning of Mountain Men, 6cc. 



XXVI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Emigration from other States. The first Minister in Tennessee. The 
Rev. Samuel Doak. Martin Academy. Washington College. His early- 
life and ^his usefulness. Rev. Samuel Houston. Rev. Messrs. Hezekiah 
Balch and Samuel Carrick. Mr. Craighead. Abingdon Presbytery. Trus- 
tees of Washington College, of Blount College, and of Greenville College. 308 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

JAMES HALL, D.D., AND THE CHURCHES IN IREDELL. 

Clergymen in the army ; some gave up their ministry. James Hall served 
as a soldier and continued a preacher. Birth-place. Place of Emigration. 
Names of families emigrating. Minute of Synod of Philadelphia in 1753. 
Minute in 1754. Minute in 1757. Minute of Synod of New York in 
1755. Minute from the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. Efforts 
for Ministers. Salary promised ; eighty pounds for half the time. Hall's 
early instruction. The coming of a Missionary. Minute for 1764 by Synod. 
Mr. Hall unites with the church. His early habits and desires as a 
Christian. Devotes himself to the Ministry. A perplexing incident the 
cause of his remaining single through life. His age when he commences 
the Classics. His taste for Mathematics. Is graduated at Princeton. 
Dr. Witherspoon's opinion of him. Licensed to preach the Gospel. Min- 
isters in Carolina at that time. Mr. Hall installed Pastor. His Elders. 
Espouses cause of the Revolution. Raises a company of cavalry to 
go to South Carolina. An incident reconnoitreing. Raises a second com- 
pany. A third company raised and Mr. Hall goes with them. A novel 
scene in preaching. His qualificatious as a commander. General Greene 
proposes him for General to fill the place of Davidson. A revival of Re- 
ligion in his charge. His first attendance on the Synod. Commences 
his Missionary excursions. A pioneer to the Natches. His reports of 
his Missions. His attendance on the General Assembly. His journeys to 
the Assembly. An incident. Trains men for the Ministry. Clio's JVur- 
sery. Opens an Academy of Science at his own house. Prepares a 
Grammar for his young people. A circulating library. List of preachers 
educated by him. Favors the establishment of a Theological Seminary. 
Member of the Bible Society. Anecdote. His boldness and independ- 
ence, an anecdote of. His manner of preaching. His occasional melan- 
choly, anecdote of it. His tenderness for the suffering of others under it. 
Made Doctor of Divinity by Nassau Hall and University of N. C. His 
dsath and burial 315 

CHAPTER XXV. 

REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 

The successor of Dr. Hall in his charge of Concord and f^ourth Creek. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXVli 

Origin and birth. Is sent to England. Emigrates to New Jersey and enters 
College. Revival in Princeton College in 1772. His religious experi- 
ence. Great opposition. Anecdote. Becomes convicted, hopefully con- 
verted. His succeeding course. His view of College Honors. Visits 
England. Wishes to enter the Ministry. His Father's wishes. His 
Father offended and disinherits him. He returns to America. Commen- 
ces Theological reading with Dr. Witherspoon. His perplexity of mind. 
Commences the study of Medicine. Enters the Army. His father's 
death. A Legacy. Settles in Princeton. His deportment in the Army. 
Mr. Hall persuades him to remove to Iredell, N. C. His marriage. De- 
sires to enter the Ministry. The people also desire it. Licensed by 
Orange Presbytery in 1791. Becomes Pastor of Concord and Fourth Creek. 
The Revival of 1802. His views of it. Leaves Fourth Creek. His 
successors there. His death. His character by John M. Wilson of Rocky 
River. His manner of preaching. His dying exercises 337 



CHAPTER XXVL 

THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 

Settlement of Thyatira. Mc Aden's course through the settlement, 1755. 
Visit of Messrs. Spencer and McWhorter. Samuel E. McCorkle. Birth- 
place. His parents emigrate to North Carolina. Their locations. The 
Father an Elder and the Son Pastor of the Church. Commences a Classi- 
cal course. Takes his degree at Nassau Hall, 1772. Extracts from his 
diary. His early experience. His exercises during the Revival of 1772. 
Extract from Boston. Reads Hopkins. Is deeply distressed. Reads 
Smalley. Mr. Green's Sermon. He commences reading for the Ministry. 
Licensed and called to Thyatira. His Marriage. Anecdote of Mrs. 
Steele and General Green. Obituary of Mrs. Steele. Her letter to her 
Children after her death. A prayer from her pen. Mr. McCorkle's re- 
sidence. Opens a Classical School. A Teacher's department. The first 
Graduates of the University of N. C. Is appointed a Professor in the 
University. Declines the appointment. Bounds of Thyatira. Third 
Creek formed from it. Rev. J. D. Kilpatrick. His views of the Revival 
in 1802. Anecdote of him. Back Creek formed. Salisbury Church 
formed. Mr. McCorkle's Bible Classes. His Pulpit preparations. His 
printed Sermons. His appearance. Resemblance to Mr. Jefferson. His 
Pulpit instructions. Delegates to the Assembly. His views of the Revival 
of 1802. Struck with Death in the Pulpit. His Funeral. Thomas Espy. 
His birth. His early exercises on Religion. Commences a Classical 
course. Unites with the Church, 1S2U. Enters College. Goes to Vir- 
ginia. Commences preparations for the Ministry. Licensure. Influence 
of his example. A Missionary to Burke, N. C. Is ordained Evange- 



XXVlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

list. Leaves Centre and goes to Salisbury. Seized witii a hemorrhage. 

His last sickness. A testimony concerning him. His death. .... 349 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

REV. JAMES M'GREADY AND THE REVIVALS OF 1800. 

His agency in Revivals. No memoir of him has hitherto appeared. His 
origin. Emigration to North Carolina. Reasons of his education. His 
early Religious views. A change in them. Its influence on his after life 
and Preaching. Licensed by Red Stone Presbytery. Returns to Caro- 
lina. Religion suffered during the War. McGready attends a funeral 
His appearance. His first Sermons. His pulpit preparations. His print- 
ed sermons. His manner of delivery. Places of preaching. His residence. 
Visits Dr. Caldwell's School with happy effect. Excitement on Religion. 
Opposition on Stony Creek. McGready and others remove to the West. 
Extract from McGready's statement of the condition of things in Kentucky. 
Commencement of the Revival in 1800. The exercises of a bodily nature. 
Crowds attend meetings for days in succession. The Revival commences 
in North Carolina, 1801, at Cross Roads. Also at Hawfields. The first 
Camp Meeting in North Carolina. The Revival spreads over the State. 
Dr. Caldwell appoints a meeting in Randolph County. An interesting 
pamphlet printed in Philadelphia, containing an account of the Revival. 
A Clergyman's account of the exercises experienced by himself. His 
opinion of them 3(57 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER AND STEELE CREEK, GOSHEN AND UNITY. 

Mr. Hunter first a Soldier and then a Minister. Settlement of Steele Creek. 
Names of its Ministers. Location of the Church. The Grave Yard. A 
visit to it. The inscriptions of a Soldier. Anecdote. Other inscriptions 
of a different age. Monuments to little children. Poetic inscriptions. 
The use of Psalms and Hymns. Grave of two Brothers. Monument of 
Rev. Mr. Hunter. Extract from Gordon's Histoi-y. Mr. Hunter's birth- 
place. Emigrates to America when a child. Grows up in Mecklenburg. 
Attends the Convention. Enlists as a Soldier. Commences his Classical 
course. Certificate. A Lieutenant against the Indians. Goes to Queen's 
Museum. Certificate. College broken up. Enters the Army. Is at the 
battle of Camden. Witnesses the death of De Kalb. The circumstances of 
it. Prisoners in confinement. Anecdote of Hunter. Escapes from con- 
finement. Joins the Army again. Resumes his studies. Two Certifi- 
cates. Enters Mount Zion College. His degree. His licensure. A 
call with the Signatures. Removes to Lincoln. Settlement of Goshen. Its 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXIX 

Location. Preaches at Steele Creek. Practises Medicine. His performan- 
ces as a Minister. His Death. Notice of it. His appearance and cha- 
racter 414 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CENTRE CONGREGATIOrr. 

Fall of General Davidson on the Catawba. His birth and burial. Bounda- 
ries of Centre. The first white child born between the two rivers. Origin 
of the inhabitants. Rev. Thomas H. McCaule. Classical school. Dr. 
McRee the Minister for about thirty years. His birth and Parentage. 
His Father's library. Custom to Catechise. His College course and pre- 
paration for the Ministry. Settlement at Steele Creek. Extract from a 
Letter. Essay on Psalmody. Settles in Centre. Extract from a Letter. . 432 



CHAPTER XXX. 

POPLAR TENT AND HER MINISTERS. 

Ministers to be disengaged from Politics. Hezekiah James Balch in the 
Convention, Minutes of Synod respecting him. His congregations. His 
Death. Location of Poplar Tent. Settlement and building of'the Meeting 
House. Mr. Alexander's account. Dr. Robinson's. Meaning of word 
Tent. Their use. The name of Poplar Tent. No Monument to Mr. 
Balch. Names of the Elders. Robert Archibald. Psalmody. Anecdote 
of. Discussion about. Poplar Tent riot harassed in the War. Mr. Archi- 
bald's habits. Becomes erroneous in his Creed. Anecdote of him. Mr. 
Alexander Caldwell. John Robinson. His birth-place and parentage. 
Excellent Memory. His agency in the present work. His Education. 
His College Degree. His Licensure. His personal appearance. Com- 
mences Preaching in a trying time. His first place of Labor. Removes to 
Fayetteville. Removes to Poplar Tent. Returns to Fayetteville. First 
Communion in Fayetteville. His manner of preaching there. The opinion 
of his worth thirty-two years after. His kind feelings. His advanced years. 
Anecdote. Friend of Education. Anecdote of his Courage. One of his 
Faithfulness. Meeting of Synod during his last sickness. His death and 
burial .438 

CHAPTER XXXI. , 

EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THE CAROLINAS FROM 1S02 TO 
1812 INCLUSIVE. 

Fifteenth Meeting. Missionary report from Matthew^s and Hall. Acorn- 



XXX TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

mission of Synod appointed. Grammar Schools to be erected ; and 
Youth licensed for the Ministry. Overture about exhorters. Petitions 
from Abingdon. Stated Clerk appointed. Sixteenth Meeting. Mission- 
ary to Catawbas appointed. Overture respecting Candidates. Seven- 
teenth Meeting. Greenville Presbytery dissolved. Missionaries sent to 
Natches. Overture respecting other denominations. Other overtures. 
Eighteenth Meeting. Report of the Mission among the Catawbas. Non- 
attending Presbyteries written to. Respecting the Presbytery of Charles- 
ton. JVineteenth Meeting. The Records transcribed by the new clerk, 
Mr. Davies. Overture the Assembly for Division. Overture respecting 
Ministers holding Civil offices. Twentieth Meeting. A memorial re- 
specting William C. Davis. Application of the Presbytery of Union to 
change their connexion. Missionary operations. Questions concerning 
Elders in Synod. Twenty-first Meeting. The Missionary operations. 
The Minutes of Synod on the Reports. The case of Mr. Davis taken 
up. Overture respecting Qualifications of Parents asking baptism for 
Children. Report on the subject of Communing with the Methodists. 
Twenty-second Meeting. Missionary matters. A long and interesting 
Report from Mr. Hall. He prepares questions for the people. His visit 
to Knobb Creek. Case of Mr. Davis comes up. The charges against him. 
His explanations. The decision of Presbytery. Synod,,dissatisfied with it, 
takes up the case. Mr. Davis appeals to the Assembly. Synod remits the 
case with an overture on the book published by Mr. Davis called the Gos- 
pel Plan. Harmony Presbytery set off. Pastoral letter ordered on account 
Mr. Davis's errors. Twenty-third Meeting. First Presbytery of South 
Carolina dissolved. Overture concerning Lotteries. Extract from Mr. 
Hall's report on Missions. Ordination of Mr. Caldwell of the University 
sanctioned. Twenty-fourth Meeting. Presbytery of Orange ask advice 
respecting Mr. Davis. Dr. Hall reports on his Missionary tour. The 
Synod resign their .Missionary operations to the hands of the Assembly. 
Action on the subject of ordinatron sine titulo. Order to circulate copies 
of the Confession of Faith. Twenty-fifth Meeting. Report of Dr. Hall 
of Missionary labor. Support of the Missionary and contingent funds of 
the Assembly enjoined. Presbytery of Fayetteville set off. Action of 
Synod concerning Ordinations sine titulo 454 

f CHAPTER XXXII. 

REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON, D. D., AND THE CHURCH OF ROCKY RIVER. 

His parentage. Incident in his early life. Enters the school in Charlotte. 
Completes his course of study at Hampden Sydney College. Devotes 
himself to the Ministry. Settled in Burke County. Marries. Removes 
to Rocky river. The Settlement of Rocky River. Origin of the Settlers. 
Some of the names. They favor the Regulators. Destruction of powder by 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

the Black boys. Mr. Archibald the Minister. A Revival of Religion. Mr. 
Alexander Caldwell. Becomes deranged and leaves them. Mr. Wilson 
becomes their Pastor. The estimation in which he was held by the people. 
His Ministerial habits, opens a Classical school and educates a large number 
of Ministers of the Gospel. His preparation for death. His burial. His son 
a Missionary to Africa. Dies there. Mr. Wilson's grave and epitaph. . 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 

Cross Creek. The name. Campbelton. The public road opened. Name 
changed to Fayetteville. First stated Preacher. Second Preacher. Ordi- 
nation of Elders. First administration of the Lord's Supper. The Third 
Preacher ordained. Baptism administered publicly. Mr. Robinson re- 
turns. Mr. Turner. His labors and death. His successor. Church build- 
ing put up. Succession of Ministers. Second Pastor removed by death. 
Mr. Douglass. A short Memoir of him. His spirit. His Parentage. 
His Religious impressions. His temptation in New York. Preparation 
for the Ministry. Foreign Mission. Visits Mr. Nettleton. Habits of 
piety. His labors as a Missionary. Ordained. Gathers a Church in Mur- 
freesborough. Goes to Milton. Gathers a Church there. Goes to Briery. 
Goes to Richmond. Goes to Ireland. Extract from a letter. Visits the 
great valley of the Mississippi. Goes to Lexington, Virginia. Goes to 
Fayetteville. His pastoral habits. Fayetteville Presbytery. Its forma- 
tion. Notice of, Mr. McMillan. Mr. McNair. Mr. Peacock. Mr, 
Mclntyre. Mr. McDougald. ... - 489 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 

Extract from Tarleton's History of the Southern Campaigns. Charlotte un 
comfortable head-quarters to Cornwallis. Extract from Tarleton upon the 
difficulty of obtaining provisions. The affair at Mclntyre's. Epitaph of 
one of the men engaged in this affair. Extract from Steadman's History 
of the American war. The place of encampment of the British army. 
Evacuation of Charlotte. The Polk family. Thomas Spratt 504 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 

Sentiments of the females in Carolina about education. The oldest Academy. 



XXXU TABLE OF CONTENTS, » 

Attempts to make a College. A charter obtained and revoked by the 
King. A second time obtained and revoked. Queen's Museum goes into 
operation, chartered as Liberty Hall Academy by the Colonial Legislature. 
Extract from Charter. Trustees. First President. Laws drawn up by a 
committee. Overture to Dr. McWhorter. Certificate. Second President. 
Third President. The Academy broken up. Mount Zion College. List 
of Academies by Presbyterians. Probable proportion of those able to read. 
The institutions established by Presbyterians. The Caldwell Institute ; 
its origin and principles of operation. Opinion of Dr. Caldwell. The 
Donaldson Academy. Davidson College ; its principles. Attention to 
female education. Martin Academy in Tennessee. Extract from the 
report of the Committee of Fayetteville Presbytery 

CHAPTER XXXVL 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AND REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL, D.D. 

A visit to the University on Commencement day. Death of a young lady. 
The University a State Institution. The interest of the Presbyterians in 
it. The Legislature determine to found a University. The Trustees. 
Its location. Laying the corner-stone. Extract from the speech of Dr. 
M'Corkle. The University is opened. The first Professor. Mr. Harris 
recommends Mr. Caldwell. His parentage. His early training. Commen- 
ces his Classical course. His education abandoned. At the suggestion of 
Dr. Witherspoon his course is renewed. Enters College. His views re- 
specting his conduct in College. Takes his degree. Commences school- 
teaching. Is made tutor in Nassau Hall. His connection with the church 
under Mr. Austin. Correspondence with his classmate. Appointed pro- 
fessor of Mathematics at Chapel Hill. Sets out for Carolina. Anecdote 
of Dr. Green. Enters on his office. The advantages of his situation. 
The difficulties of it. The efforts of infidel notions. Extract from a letter. 
Exhibition of Presbyterian principles. False notions of education. Or- 
dination of Dr. Caldwell. His talents judged by his works. Advocates 
the Presbyterial High School. His religious experience 527 



SKETCHES 



NORTH CAROLINA 



CHAPTER L 

THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN THE UNITED 
STATES OF AMERICA, MAY 20tH, 1775. 

The little village of Charlotte, the seat of justice for Meck- 
lenburg county, North Carolina, was the theatre of one of the 
most memorable events in the political annals of the United States. 
Situated in the fertile champaign, between the Yadkin and 
Catawba rivers, far above tide-water, some two hundred miles 
from the ocean, and in advance of the mountains that run almost 
parallel to the Atlantic coast, on the route of that emigration which, 
before the Revolution, passed on southwardly, from Pennsylvania, 
through Virginia, to the unoccupied regions east of the Mount- 
ains, on what is now the upper stage route from Georgia, through 
►South Carolina and North Carolina, to meet the railroad at 
Raleigh, — it was, and is, the centre of an enterprising population. 
It received its name from Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, 
whose native province also gave name to the county, the House 
of Hanover having been invited to the throne of England. 

Here .was located the first academy, or high school, in the 
upper part of the State ; and here was made the first cfi'ort for a 
college in North Carolina, in the institution called Queen's Mu- 
seum. 

The traveller, in passing through this fertile, retired, and popu- 
lous country, would now see nothing calculated to suggest the 
3 



34 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

fact, that he was on the ground of the boldest Declaration ever 
made in America ; and that all around him were localities rich in 
associations of valor and suffering in the cause of National Inde- 
pendence, the sober recital of which borders on romance. Every- 
thing looks peaceful, secluded, and prosperous, as though the 
track of hostile armies had never defaced the soil. Were he told, 
this is the spot where lovers of personal and national liberty will 
come, in pilgrimage or imagination, to ponder events of the deep- 
est interest to all mankind, he must feel, in the beauty and fertility 
of the surrounding region, that here was a chosen habitation for 
good men to live, and act, and leave to their posterity the inesti- 
mable privileges of political and religious freedom, with abundance 
of all that may be desired to make life one continued thanksgiving. 
Seventy years ago, on the 19th day of May, 1775, might have 
been seen assembled, in this frontier settlement, an immense con- 
course of people under great excitement ; some few, well dressed, 
moving about with the dignity of Colonial Magistrates ; a small 
number of officers of the militia ; the great mass of the assembly 
clad in the homespun of their wives and sisters, — not a few shod 
with the moccasins of their own manufacture, — all completely 
wrapt in the exciting subjects of a revolutionary nature, then 
agitating the whole land. Continental Congress was then in ses- 
sion in Philadelphia, consulting for the welfare of the Colonies ; 
provincial Legislatures had been dissolved, and the whole popula- 
tion of the United Provinces were in commotion, discussing the 
rights and privileges of persons, and States, and Kings. Every 
man had become a politician, and from being a hunter was pre- 
pared to become a soldier. 

There was no printing press in the upper country of Carolina, 
and many a weary mile must be traversed to find one. Newspa- 
pers were few, and, no regular post traversing the country, were 
seldom seen. The people, anxious for news, were accustomed to 
assemble to hear printed handbills from abroad, or written ones 
drawn up by persons appointed for the purpose, particularly the 
Rev. Thomas Reese, of Mecklenburg, North Carolina, whose 
bones lie in the gi-ave yard of the Stone Church, Pendleton, 
South Carolina. There had been frequent assemblies 'in Char- 
lotte, to hear the news and join in the discussions of the exciting 
subjects of the day ; and finally, to give more efficiency to their 
discussions, it was agreed upon, generally, that Thomas Polk, 
Colonel of the Militia, long a surveyor in the province, frequently 
a member of the Colonial Assembly, well known and w^ell ac- 



FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 35 

quainted in the surrounding counties, a man of great excellence 
and merited popularity, should be empowered to call a convention 
of the representatives of the people, whenever it should appear 
advisable. It was also agreed that these representatives should 
be chosen from the Militia districts, by the people themselves ; 
and that when assembled for council and debate, their decisions 
should be binding on the inhabitants of Mecklenburg. 

Having heard of the attempt of Governor Martin to prevent the 
assembling of a Provincial Congress, or Convention, in Newbern, 
in April ; and of his arbitrary proceedings in dissolving the last 
provincial Legislature after a session of four days, before any im- 
portant business had been transacted ; and being afflicted with the 
news from distant colonies, and from across the ocean, the people 
were clamorous for action and for redress. The Provincial Con- 
gress of North Carolina had assembled in direct opposition to the 
proclamation of the Governor, and had approved of the acts and 
doings of their representatives in the Continental Congress, ex- 
pressing their confidence in their wisdom and abilities, by re-ap- 
pointing them to the arduous duties of Representatives in the 
Legislature of the United Colonies ; and the people generally 
were more and more restless under the exercise of royal author- 
ity, and daily more irritated by the exactions of men who glutted 
their avarice under the color of law. 

In this state of the public mind. Colonel Polk issued his notice 
for the committee men to asselnble in Charlotte, on the 19th of 
May, 1775. On the appointed day between twenty and thirty 
representatives of the people met in the Court House, in the cen- 
tre of the town, at the crossing of the great streets, and surround- 
ed by an immense concourse, few of whom could enter the house, 
proceeded to organize for business, by choosing Abraham Alex- 
ander, a former member of the Legislature, a magistrate, and 
ruling elder in the Sugar Creek Congregation, in whose bounds 
they were assembled, as their chairman ; and John McKnitt Alex- 
ander, and Dr. Ephraim Brevard, men of business habits and 
great popularity, their clerks. Papers were read before the Con- 
vention and the people ; the handbill, brought by express, containing 
the news of the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, on that day 
one month, the 19th of April, came to hand that day, and was 
read to the assembly. The Rev. Hezekiah James Balcli, Pastor 
of Poplar Tent, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, and William Kennon, 
Esq., addressed the Convention and the people at large. Under 
the excitement produced by the wanton bloodshed at Lexington, 



36 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and the addresses of these gentlemen, the assembly cried out as 
with one voice, " Let us be independent ! Let us declare our 
independence, and defend it with our lives and fortunes !" The 
speakers said, his Majesty's proclamation had declared them out 
of the protection of the British Crown, and they ought, therefore, 
to declare themselves out of his protection, and independent of all 
his control. 

A committee, consisting of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, Mr. Kennon, 
and Rev. Mr. Balch, were appointed to prepare resolutions suitable 
to the occasion. Some drawn up by Dr. Brevard, and read to his 
friends at a political meeting in Queen's Museum some days before, 
were read to the Convention, and then committed to these gentle- 
men for revision. 

While the committee were out discussing these resolutions, the 
Convention continued in session and were addressed by several 
gentlemen. General Joseph Graham, then but a youth, and pre- 
sent at the deliberations, relates an interesting incident. A mem- 
ber of the committee, who had said but little before, addressed 
the chairman as follows: "If youjesolve on Independence, how 
shall we all be absolved from the obligations of the oath we took 
to be true to King George the Third, about four years ago, after 
the Regulation battle, when we were sworn, whole militia compa- 
nies together ? I should be glad to know how gentlemen can 
clear their consciences after taking that oath?" The Speaker 
referred to the blood shed by Governor Tryon, on the 1 6th of May, 
1771, on Alamance Creek, when he dispersed the Regulators, men 
driven to open resistance of His Majesty's officers, by their 
t3rranny and exactions ; — and to the numerous executions that fol- 
lowed in Hillsborough and the neighboring country ; — and to the 
oath of allegiance forced on the people by the Governor, to save 
their lives and property, after that bloodshed. The question pro- 
duced great confusion, and many attempted to reply ; the chair- 
man could with difficulty preserve order. This question did not 
imply fear, or want of patriotism ; it simply revealed the spirit and 
tone of the man's conscience, that he was one of those men bless- 
ed of the Lord, " who sweareth to his own hurt, and change th 
not." The excitement that followed evinced the fact that the 
Speaker had struck a chord that vibrated through tlie assembly. 
An answer must be given, or the event of that day's discussion 
would not be for independence. The haste to answer the ques- 
tion revealed the fact that the community felt the awful and bind- 
ing sanction of a solemn oath ; and unless some answer was 



FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 37 

given, and given speedily, tlie minds of the auditory w^ould be 
turned back from the proposed declaration, for very many were 
held by the oath exacted by Tryon. Some cried out that — " al- 
legiance and protection were reciprocal ; vi^hen protection was 
withdrawn, allegiance ceased ; that the oath was binding only 
while the King protected us in our rights and liberties as they 
existed at the time it was taken." Others, of more passion than 
conscience, cried out that such questions and difficulties were all 
*' nonsense^ One man at last carried the assembly with him by 
a short illustration, pointing to a green tree near the Court House, 
— " If I am sworn to do a thing as long as the leaves continue on 
that tree, I am bound by that oath as long as the leaves continue. 
But when the leaves fall, I am released from that obligation." 
The people determined that when protection ceased, allegiance 
ceased also. The Convention proceeded to enact by-laws and 
regulations by which it should be governed as a standing commit- 
tee, and about midnight adjourned till noon the next day. 

The excitement continued to increase through the night and the 
succeeding morning. At noon, May 20th, the Convention re-assem- 
bled with an undiminished concourse of citizens, amongst whom 
might be seen many wives and mothers, anxiously awaiting the 
event. The resolutions previously drawn up by Dr. Brevard, and 
now amended by the committee, together with the by-laws and 
regulations, were taken up ; John McKnitt Alexander read the 
by-laws, and Dr. Brevard the Resolutions. All was stillness. The 
chairman of the Convention put the question : — " Are you all 
agreed ?" The response was an universal " aye." 

After the business of the Convention was all arranged, it was 
moved and seconded that the proceedings should be read at the 
Court House door in hearing of the multitude. Proclamation was 
made, and from the Court House steps Colonel Thomas Polk 
read, to a listening and approving auditory, the following resolu- 
tions, viz. : — 

THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION, 

"Resolved, 1st. That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, 
or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and 
dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is 
an enemy to this country, to America, and to the inherent and 
unalienable rights of man. 

" Resolved, 2d. That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, 
do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us 



38 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

with the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all 
allegiance to the British crown, and abjure all political connection, 
contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly 
trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood 
of American Patriots at Lexington. 

*' Resolved, 3d. That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and 
independent people ; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign 
and self-governing association, under the control of no power, 
other than that of our God, and the General Government of the 
Congress : — to the maintenance of which independence, we sol- 
emnly pledge to each other, our mutual co-operation, our lives, 
our fortunes, and our most sacred honor. 

" Resolved, 4th. That as we acknowledge the existence and con- 
trol of no law, nor legal office, civil or military, within this county ; 
we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, and 
every of our former laws ; wherein, nevertheless, the crown of 
Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, 
immunities, or authority therein. 

*' Resolved, 5th. That it is further decreed, that all, each, and 
every military officer in this county is hereby retained in his former 
command and authority, he acting conformably to these regulations. 
And that every member present of this delegation shall henceforth 
be a civil officer, viz. : a Justice of the Peace, in the character of 
a committee man, to issue process, hear and determine all matters 
of controversy, according to said adopted laws ; and to preserve 
peace, union, and harmony in said county ; and to use every exer- 
tion to spread the love of country and fire of freedom throughout 
America, until a general organized government be established in 
this province." 

A voice from the crowd called out for "three cheers," and the 
whole company shouted three times, and threw their hats in the 
air. The Resolutions were read again and again during the day 
to different companies desirous of retaining in their memories 
sentiments so congenial to their feelings. There are still living 
some whose parents were in that assembly, and heard and read 
the resolutions ; and from whose lips they heard the circumstances 
and sentiments of this remarkable declaration. 



THE SECOND MECKLENBURG DECLARATION. 

The Convention had frequent meetings, and on the 30lh of May, 
1775, issued the following paper, viz.: — 



first declaration of independence. 39 

" Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, > 
Maij 30th, 1775. S 

" This clay the committee of the county met and passed the 
following Resolves : — Whereas, by an Address presented to his 
Majesty by both houses of parliament, in February last, the 
American Colonies are declared to be in a state of actual rebellion, 
we conceive that all laws and commissions confirmed by, or de- 
rived from the authority of the king or parliament, are annulled 
and vacated, and the former civil constitution of these Colonies 
for the present wholly suspended. To provide, in some degree, 
for the exigencies of this county, in the present alarming period, 
we deem it necessary and proper to pass the following resolves, 
viz. : — 

" 1st. That all commissions, civil and military, heretofore 
granted by the crown, to be exercised in these Colonies, are null 
and void, and the constitution of each particular Colony wholly 
suspended. 

" 2d. That the Provincial Congress of each province, under the 
direction of the great Continental Congress, is invested with all 
legislative and executive powers, within their respective provinces, 
and that no other legislative power does, or can exist, at this time, 
in any of these Colonies. 

*' 3d. As all former laws are now suspended in this province, 
and the Congress have not provided others, we judge it necessary 
for the better preservation of ^ood order, to form certain rules 
and regulations for the internal government of this county, until 
laws shall be provided for us by the Congress. 

" 4th. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a certain 
day appointed by this committee, and having formed themselves 
into nine companies, viz., eight in the county, and one in the town 
of Charlotte, do choose a Colonel and other military officers, who 
shall hold and exercise their several powers by virtue of this 
choice, and independent of the crown of Great Britain and the 
former constitution of this province." 

[ T}ie?i folloio eleven articles for the preser'vation of the peace, 
and the choice of officers to jyerfor?n the duties of a regular gov- 
ernment.'] 

" 16th. That whatever person shall hereafter receive a com- 
mission from the crown, or attempt to exercise any such commis- 
sion heretofore received, shall be deemed an enemy to his country ; 
and upon information to the captain of the company in which he 
resides, the company shall cause him to be apprehended, and, 



40 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

upon proof of the fact, committed to safe custody, till the next 
sitting of the committee, who shall deal with him as prudence 
shall direct." 

A copy of the acts and doings of this convention was sent by 
express to the members of Congress from North Carolina, then 
in session in Philadelphia. Capt. James Jack, of Charlotte, was 
chosen as the bearer, and set out immediately on his mission^ 
Passing through Salisbury, on the regular court day, he was per- 
suaded by Mr. Kennon, a lawyer in attendance at court, also a 
member of the committee that reported the first declaration, to 
permit a reading of the papers publicly. The citizens of Rowan, 
generally, approved of the course taken by their fellow- citizens of 
Mecklenburg. Two individuals, John Dunn and Benjamin Booth 
Boote, opposed the sentiments of the resolution, pronounced them 
treasonable, and proposed the detention of Captain Jack. Bidding 
them defiance, and favored by the great majority of the people, 
he passed on unmolested, and delivered the declarations to the 
delegates from North Carolina, then in Philadelphia — Messrs. 
Caswell, Hooper, and Hewes. Approving of the spirit of their 
fellow citizens, and the tone of the resolutions, these gentlemen 
nevertheless thought them premature, as the General Congress 
had not then abandoned all hopes of a reconciliation with the 
mother country, on honorable terms ; and did not present them to 
Congress. By this perhaps prudent smothering of the expressions 
of sentiment by an intelligent people, the citizens of Mecklenburg 
were disappointed, but not discouraged ; they lost the foreground 
their patriotism merited, but lost not their spirit. They declared 
themselves independent May, 1775, and have never ceased to 
be so. 

A copy of the proceedings of the Convention was addressed to 
the Moderator of the first Provincial Congress of North Carolina, 
which met in Hillsborough, August 20th, 1775; and was laid 
before the committee of business, but not particularly acted upon, 
as the majority of the body were still hoping for reconciliation on 
honorable terms. 

A copy of the proceedings appeared in the Cape Fear Mercury, 
published in Wilmington, and meeting the eye of Governor Josiah 
Martin, is thus noticed by him in the Proclamation issued from on 
board his Majesty's ship Cruiser, August 8th, 1775, and sent to 
the Provincial Congress : — " And whereas, I have also seen a most 
infamous publication in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be 



FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 41 

'■Resolves'' of a set of people styling themselves 'a Committee 
of the County of Mecklenburg,^ most traitorously declaring the 
entire dissolution of the laws, government, and constitution of the 
country, and setting up a system of rule and regidation repugnant 
to the laws, and subversive of his Majesty's government," &c. 
The Governor knew the people better than his predecessor, 
Tryon, and had he known them better still, he would have spoken 
of them more respectfully. 

A copy of the second declaration (that of May 30lh, 1775) 
appeared in the public papers in New York and Massachusetts ; 
files of which are still preserved ; and from them was copied by 
Mr. Force into his State Papers. 

The history of the preservation of the first declaration (that of 
May 20lh, 1775), in the absence of printed documents, will be 
given, in full, in the sketch of Hopewell Congregation, and the 
Secretary of the Convention. 

The energy of the committee was equal to the decision of their 
declarations.* The laws were vigorously enforced ; and the vene- 
rable chairman, and his coadjutor Col. Polk, with the committee 
at large, demonstrated that, in seeking freedom from tyranny, they 
designed no overthrow of law,, or perversion of justice. Opposers 
of independence were reckoned offenders ; and open oifenders 
found no refuge in Mecklenburg. As soon as the news of the 
insult offered their express, Capt. Jack, in Salisbury, reached 
Charlotte, the committee ordered a party of some ten or twelve 
armed men, on horseback, to proceed to Salisbury, the seat of 
justice in Rowan, and bring these men prisoners to Charlotte. 
The party lost no time in fulfilling their mission, and met with no 
resistance in Rowan. The oifenders, Dunn and Boote, were, 
after examination by the committee, sent to South Carolina as 
suspicious persons, to be kept in confinement. Gen: Graham 
says — " My brother, George Graham, and the late Col. John Car- 
ruth, were of the party that went to Salisbury ; and it is distinctly 
remembered that when in Charlotte, they came home at night in 
order to provide for their trip to Camden ; and they and two others 
of tlie party took Boote to that place. This was the first military 
expedition from Mecklenburg in the revolutionary war, and believed 
to be the first anywhere to the South." — But it was far from being 
the last, retired and frontier as the county was. It characterized, 
in its spirit, energy and success, the various expeditions in and 
from Mecklenburg during the seven years' war — more particularly 
in the distressing campaigns of Cornwallis, in which Graham 



42 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

himself acted so conspicuous a part. Dunn and Boote were botli 
transferred to Charleston, for safekeeping, as persons particularly- 
inimical to the country. Their wives made a strong appeal in 
their favor to the Provincial Congress, which met in Hillsborough, 
August 20th, 1775 : on the 29th of that month it was decided by 
a vote of that body that they remain in confinement. 

Associations were formed, very generally, throughout the differ- 
ent counties in the state during the summer of 1775. Articles 
drawn up for the purpose were signed individually as a test of 
patriotism. The first association of which there is a copy, was 
drawn up in Cumberland county, July 10th, 1775 ; the second in 
Tryon, now Lincoln, in August of the same year. 

The first Provincial Congress of North Carolina were not pre- 
pared for independence of the mother country ; and on the 4th of 
September, 1775, after discussion and the action of a committee, 
it was resolved — " The present association ought to be further 
relied on for bringing about a reconciliation with the parent state." 
But on the 9th of the same month, the appointment of a Provincial 
Council, of thirteen persons, with executive powers, was resolved 
upon; also County Committees of Safety, with executive powers, 
in connection with the Provincial Council, to consist of not less 
than twenty-one persons, to be chosen annually by the electors on 
the day they made choice of Congressmen. It was also deter- 
mined that, after the 10th day of December, no suit for debt should 
be entertained except by permission of this committee. These 
committees of safety appear to have been the same as that already 
in existence in Mecklenburg ; and Abraham Alexander continued 
to act as the chairman, as appears from the following certificate, 
which may be also a specimen of the spirit of the times, and the 
vigilance with which the committee acted : 

" North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, > 
''Nov. 28th, 1775. S 

" These may certify to all whom they may concern, that the 
bearer hereof, William Henderson, is allowed here to be a true 
friend of liberty, and has signed the association. 

" Certified by Abraham Alexander, chairman of the committee 
of safety." 

Though the Declaration of Independence, made and repeated in 
Charlotte, in May, 1775, had no immediate effect upon the Con- 
tinental Congress, it is not unfair to conjecture that it had an in- 



FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 43 

fluence on the Provincial Congress of North Carohna, that met in 
Hillsborough in August of that year, in the appointment of the 
Provincial Committee and the County Committees of Safety, as 
four of the members of the convention were members of the 
Congress, viz. : — Thomas Polk, Waightstill Avery, John Pfifer, 
and John McKnitt AlexandjDr. Neither is it unfair to conclude 
that it had some influence on the Provincial Congi'ess that assem- 
bled in Halifax, April 4th, 1776 : as, on the 8th of that month a 
committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Harnett, Burke, 
A. Jones, T. Jones, Nash, Henekin, and Person, to take into con- 
sideration the usurpations and violence committed by the king and 
parliament of Great Britain ; and, on the 1 2th, Mr. Harnett sub- 
mitted an able report, which was concluded with the following 
resolution, viz. : 

" Resolved, That the delegates from this colony, in Continental 
Congress, be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other 
colonies in declaring independence, and in forming foreign alli- 
ances ; reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive right of 
forming a constitution and law« for this colony, and of appointing 
delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general repre- 
sentation thereof), to meet delegates of the other colonies for such 
purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out." 

This resolution was, on the same day it was proposed, unani- 
mously adopted ; and is the first public declaration for in- 
dependence BY the CONSTITUTE-D AUTHORITIES OF A STATE. It 

was presented to the Continental Congress, May 27th, 1776, 
nearly six weeks before the national Declaration. 

The question now arises, who were these people of Meck- 
lenburg, and wlience did they come ? What were the habits 
and manners by which they were characterized ? What were their 
religious principles ? and what their daily practice ? The county 
was comparatively new ; and it was not yet forty years since the 
first of those composing the convention had settled in the wilder- 
ness. Agriculturists, at a distance from market, and in a fertile 
country affording in its pea-patches, and cane-brakes, and prairies, 
plentiful sustenance for their herds, they had abundance of pro- 
visions, and little of the sinews of war, mone5^ Skilful marksmen, 
hunters, and horsemen, capable of enduring great fatigue, in mak- 
ing the Declaration of Independence, they offered a heart and a 
hand, to give and act according to their abilities, and the emergen- 
cies in which they might be placed. The riches of the gold mines 
were then unknown : the wealth of the country was in her sons, 



44 SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

and she was rich. Protestants, trained in religious things in the 
strict doctrines of the Reformation, their settlements were made 
in congregations ; and their places of worship so arranged as to 
accommodate all the families. Their descendants now assemble 
where their fathers worshipped before the Revolution. Their 
forms and creed were the forms and creed of their ancestors, who 
were eminently a religious people ; and their Confession of Faith 
has descended as a legacy from the emigrants, to go down to the 
latest posterity. 

Whence did these people come ? and what was their an- 
cestry ? Of the members of the Convention that proclaimed In- 
dependence, May, 1775, one was a minister of the Gospel, and 
nine were Elders in the Church ; and all in some way connected 
with the seven churches and congregations that embraced the 
whole county of Mecklenburg. In tracing their history, the 
true and legitimate workings of religious principles are as happily 
displayed as in the annals of any State or section in the United 
Slates. When the history of these people and their descendants 
shall be the history of two centuries, it may, and probably will 
appear, that in the advance of true religious and genuine liberty 
and sound hterature, the South and West are not a whit behind 
the most favored sections of our Confederacy. It cannot vyrell be 
otherwise, for the principles, the creed of Puritanism, under 
whose influence human society has so happily been developed 
in the New England States, are the principles of Presbytery, the 
principles of civil and religious liberty, that struck deep in the 
soil of Carolina, and sent out their vigorous shoots in the great 
valley of the Mississippi. 

But the question arises with increased force, who were these 
people, and whence did they come ? In what school of poli- 
tics and religion had they been disciplined ? At what foun- 
tains had they been drinking such inspirations, that here in the 
wilderness, common people, in their thoughts of freedom and 
equality, far outstripped the most ardent leaders in the Conti- 
nental Congress ? Whence came these men, that spoke out 
their thoughts, and thought as they spoke ; and both thought and 
spoke unextinguishable principles of freedom of conscience and 
civil liberty ? That they were poor and obscure but adds to their 
interest, when it is known that their deeds in the Revolution 
were equal to their principles. Many a "life" was given in 
Mecklenburg in consequence of that declaration, and much of 
"fortune" was sacrificed; but their "honor" came out safe, even 



FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 45 

their great enemy Tarleton being witness. They did not get their 
ideas of hberty and law from Vattel, or Puffendorf, or the tomes 
of Enghsh law. From what book then did they get their know- 
ledge, their principles of life ? Ahead of their own State in their 
political notions, as a body, they never wavered through the 
whole Revolutionary struggle ; and their descendants possess 
now just what these people asserted then, both in religion and 
politics, in conscience and in the state. 

To North Carolina belongs the unperishable honor of being 
the first in declaring that Independence, which is the pride and 
glory of every American. Honor to whom honor is due ! 



46 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER II. 



BLOOD SHED ON THE ALAMANCE THE FIRST BLOOD SHED IN 

THE REVOLUTION, MAY 16tH, 1771. 

In the year 1759 a town was established by the legislature of 
the province of North Carolina, on the Eno, a branch of the 
Neuse, near its head waters, in the county of Orange, which 
might have received its name, Hillshorough, from the beautiful 
eminences by which it is surrounded, as well as from the Earl 
of Hillsborough, Secretary of State for American affairs, from 
w^hom it is called. Its first name was Childsborough, in honor 
of the Attorney-General ; but the change speedily took place on 
account of the odium attached to the attorney for his exorbitant 
fees. 

This little village, the county seat of Orange, has claims upon 
our attention, for events enacted within its precincts and its 
neighborhood, in times gone by. It was the seat of the first 
provincial congress in North Carolina, 1775; — the head-quarters 
of Gates after his sad defeat at Camden ; — and of his adversary. 
Lord Cornwallis, on his invasion of Carolina in his pursuit of 
Greene (the residence of his Lordship, then one of the most 
sightly buildings in the village, is now kept as a tavern of no 
splendid appearance) ; — but more particularly noted as the place 
of the first outbreaking of those discontents, which had shown 
themselves in complaints and remonstrances, but here assumed 
form and consistence, first heard of in Orange and Granville, and 
ultimately spreading over all that section of the State w-est of a 
line drawn from the point of entrance of the Roanoke, from 
Virginia, to the point of egress of the Yadkin to South Carolina ; 
— discontents, and complaints, and outbrcakings, that eventuated 
in the first blood shed in Carolina, in the contest of freedom of 
opinion and property with the tyranny and misrule of the British 
government : and the first contest that had any appearance of 
a regular predetermined battle, in the provinces in North 
America. 

This spirit of discontent was at first confined to that part of 
the province granted and set off to Lord Granville, which w^as 
bounded by the Virginia line on the north, by the line of latitude 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 47 

of 35° 34^ on the south, atid extending from the Atlantic Ocean 
indefinitely west ; but more particularly, that part of his Lord- 
ship's domain lying west of the line from the Roanoke to the 
Catawba, at the points specified above. It might have been 
quieted, had the governor been as ready to require tlie agents of 
Granville and his own ofiicers to do justice, as he was to issue 
his proclamations, filled with promises, and vain orders, to a 
people irritated by oppression, but not desirous of rebellion. 

On the 24th of April, 1771, Governor Tryon marched from 
Newbern with a small force, on his way, according to the recom- 
mendation of the council, to check a rebellion in the upper 
country, which had received the name of the Regulators^ or the 
Regulation ; the militia of the several counties, in answer to the 
governor's demand upon the constituted authorities, joined him on 
his march; and on the 4th of May he encamped at Hunter's 
lodge in Wake county. Here being joined by a detachment of 
militia under Col. John Hinton, he found himself at the head of 
an armed force sufiicient to alarm, if not subdue, the undisci- 
plined country in which the dissatisfaction prevailed. He left 
the palace in Newbern accompanied by about three hundred men, 
a small train of artillery, and a number of baggage wagons ; on 
the way he had been joined by the detachment of militia from 
New Hanover county, under Col. John Ashe ; of the county of 
Craven, under Col. Joseph Leech ; of the county of Dobbs (now 
called Lenoir), under Col. Richard Caswell ; of the county of 
Onslow, under Col. Craig ; of the county of Cartaret, under 
Col. William Thompson ; of the county of Johnson, under Col. 
Needham Bryan ; of the county of Beaufort, a company of ar- 
tillery, under Capt. Moore, and a company of Rangers under 
Capt. Neale ; and a company of light horsemen from Duplin, 
under Capt. BuUock. 

From this place he sent out some detachments to assist the 
sheriffs in collecting their taxes and various fees due to the go- 
vernment and its officers, with the hope of overawing the com- 
munity by his military parade ; and on the 9th instant marched to 
the Eno, and encamped within a few miles of Hillsborough, the 
centre of the infected district, and the residence of the most 
hated and oppressive officer of the crown. Col. Edmund Fan- 
ning, who joined his camp at this place with a detachment of the 
militia of Orange, whom by various means he had prevailed upon 
to unite with the governor in putting down their distressed and 
rebellious neighbors. 



48 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

This was the second visit paid by the governor to the county 
of Orange on account of the agitation of the pubhc mind, and the 
disturbances in the community, and the difficulty attending the 
collection of taxes and the fees of the public officers. In the 
early part of July, 1768, he came as governor, unattended with 
any armed force, and used the authority of the chief magistrate, 
and the address of a practised politician, to restore order, under 
promises of redress. The apparent quiet gave place to redoubled 
confusion after his departure, as the promises of protection from 
illegal exactions all proved vain. He now came with an armed 
detachment of the colonial militia, to quell by power what he 
would not control by justice. 

The whole inhabited region of Carolina, west of the line men- 
tioned above, inhabited, as Martin says, — "by several thousand 
families, removed from the mother country, settled in the frontier 
counties of the province, exposed to the dangers of savage Indi- 
ans, and subject to all the hardships and difficulties of cultivating 
a desolate wilderness, under the expectation of enjoying to their 
fullest extent the exercise of their religious privileges as a peo- 
ple," — and with their religious were joined inseparably the civil 
and domestic rights of an enterprising race accustomed to endure 
hardship and resist oppression ; — all this region of country was 
agitated, and in some parts in open rebellion ; without a single 
military leader of experience ; with few men of much wealth or 
political eminence, or polished education ; with a population of 
scattered neighborhoods, and not a single fortified place, or any 
preparations of the munitions of war beyond the rifle and powder 
and ball of the hunter. 

Mr. Wirt, in his Life of Patrick Henry, says, " the spirit of 
revolution in Virginia began in the highest circles in the commu- 
nity, and worked its way down to the lower, the bone and sinew 
of the country." Wherever it may have begun in the eastern 
part of Carolina, it is certain that in the western division, the 
people, feeling that their interests were neglected by the governor, 
and misunderstood or overlooked by the seaboard counties, and 
not protected, or even consulted, by the parliament or court of 
England, or any of their executive officers, were moved as one 
great, excited, undisciplined mass of shrewd, hardy, enterprising 
men, that acknowledged the dominion of law, and held " opposi- 
tion to tyrants " to be " obedience to God." 

The men on the seaboard of Carolina, with Colonels Ashe and 
Waddel at their head, had nobly opposed the Slanqy Act, and pre- 



♦ FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 49 

vented its execution in North Carolina ; and in their patriotic 
movements the people of Orange sustained them ; and called them 
" The Sons of Liberty." Col. Ashe, in Wilmington, had ven 
tured to lead the excited populace against the wishes and even 
the hospitality of the governor, and in 1766 his party had thrown 
the governor's roasted ox, provided for a barbecue feast, into the 
river. Now they were marching with this very governor, to sub- 
due the disciples of Lihertij in the west ; perhaps, through a mis- 
understanding of the true nature of the case, they were willing 
to convince the governor that they were all supporters of the 
laws and of the authority of the- British crown, by uniting with 
him and su1)duing those who were reported to the council and 
provincial legislature as an ignorant and restless multitude, to be 
reclaimed, by severity, to the government of the laws. The 
eastern men looked for evils from across the waters ; and were 
prepared to resist oppression on their shores before it should step 
upon the soil of their State. The western men were seeking re- 
dress from evils that pressed them at home, under the misrule of 
the officers of the province, evils unknown by experience in the 
eastern counties, and misunderstood when reported there. Had 
Ashe, and Waddel, and Caswell, understood their case, they would 
have acted like Thomas Person, of Granville, and favored the 
distressed, even though they might have felt under obligations to 
maintain the peace of the province, and the due subordination to 
the laws. While the rest of this province, and the other pro- 
vinces, were resisting by resolutions and remonstrances, and mak- 
ing preparations for distant and coming evils ; these western men, 
in defence of their rights, boldly made resistance to the consti- 
tuted authorities, unto blood. While the eastern men stopped the 
stamped paper on the shore, these contended with an enemy in 
their ov/n bosom, and sought deliverance at home in the wil- 
derness. 

The disturbances Governor Tryon came to quell were no sud- 
den outbreaks of a discontented and excitable people. As early 
as the year 1759, the attention of the legislature of the province 
was called to the illegal fees exacted by the officers of government, 
producing great and alarming discontents ; and a law proposed for 
redress failed in meeting the. approbation of the legislature, though 
tlie discontent of persons living on Lord Granville's land had been 
manifested by the seizure of his lordship's agent, in Edenton, 
Francis Corbin, and his purchase of liberty by his bond, for future 
better behavior, in £8,000, with eight securities. Tliis exhibition 

4 



50 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. ♦ 

of popular frenzy was not noticed by the governor, because one 
of his favorite counsellors, M'Culloch, was engaged in it. In 
1760, the people of Orange, finding themselves "defrauded by 
the clerks of the several courts, by the recorders of deeds, by entry 
takers, by surveyors, and by the lawyers, every man demanding 
twice or three times his legal fees," violently prevented the sheriff 
from holding an election according to proclamation of the governor, 
in expectation of some new oppression by the office-holders, in the 
form of taxes and fees. In June, 1765, a paper entitled, " A seri- 
ous address to the people of Granville county , containing a brief 
narrative of our situation, and the wrongs we suffer, with some 
necessary hints with respect to a 7'eformation,'''' was circulated in 
that county, with great effect, being written with much clearness 
and force. The wrongs complained of in Orange, and Granville, 
and Anson, and the other counties, were essentially, and for the 
most part, individually the same. 

The people complained that illegal and exorbitant fees were ex- 
torted by officers of government ; that oppressive taxes were 
exacted by the sheriffs, where they had a right to exact some ; and 
that the manner of their collection at all times was oppressive, 
especially when the right to exact any was denied. As early as 
the years 1752 or 1753, Childs and Corbin, the agents for Lord 
Granville, and successors of Mosely and Holton, began to oppress 
the people who had been induced, by fair promises, to settle on 
his lordship's reservation, by declaring the patents issued by their 
predecessors null and void, because the words, " Right Ho- 
norable Earl,'''' had been left out from the signature, which had 
been simply, " Granville, by his Attorneys.'''' They next demand- 
ed a larger fee for the patents they issued, than had been given to 
their predecessors ; — ^next, a fee for a device which they had in- 
vented to be affixed to the papers ; — also, by granting over and 
over again, knowingly, the same lands to different persons, and in 
no case returning the illegal fees ; — and in various ways rendering 
titles to land uncertain and insecure in a large part of Orange, In 
all these extortions the people complained that the high officers of 
the province were so interested, there was little prospect of justice 
but by some strong appeals and exhibitions of powerful dislike, 
that could not be frowned down. 

The governor's proclamation, issued from time to time, requiring 
that copies of the legal fees should be exhibited to the people, and 
no others demanded, were disregarded by his officers ; and it was 
more than hinted that the judges were, indirectly at least, in many 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 51 

cases, partakers of the crime, by sharing the fees of office with 
the inferior officers. This gave weight and impunity to the op- 
pressive exactions. The people were poor ; living on productive 
land as most of theiii did, they were jfar from market, and had 
scarcely surmounted the labors and exposures of a new settlement. 
One of them, who was engaged in the opposition, declared that 
when he had gone with his father to Fayetteville to market, with 
a load of wheat, he could get a bushel of salt for a bushel of 
wheat ; or if money was demanded, they could get five shillings a 
bushel for wheat, of which one only was in money,, and the rest in 
trade. And if they could go home with forty shillings, or five dol- 
lars, from a load of forty bushels, they thought they had done well. 
In these circumstances double fees and double taxes were exceed- 
ingly oppressive, — and to men of their principles these exactions 
were sufficient cause of open and persevering resistance. 

In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed, and the governor issued 
two proclamations on the 25th of June, one making known that 
desirable fact, the other requiring of the officers of government 
strict adherence lo the graduated table of fees ; expecting of con- 
sequence that both the east and the west would be gratified, and 
make no further resistance to tlie collection of the lawful taxes, 
and range themselves on the side of the government. The relief 
a;id tranquillity were far greater in the eastern counties than in the 
western. During the session of the county court of Orange, a 
number of persons entered the cgurt-house . in Hillsborough, and 
presented to the magistrates a written complaint, drawn up by 
Harmon Husbands, which they requested the clerk to read, setting 
forth the views of the people respecting their wrongs, — " that there 
were many evils complained of in the county of Orange that ought 
to be redressed," — and proposing that there should be a meeting 
in each company of militia, for the purpose of appointing delegates 
for a general meeting to be held at some suitable place " where 
there was no liquor,''^ — "judiciously to inquire whether the freemen 
of this county labor under any abuse of power," — " that the opi- 
nions of the deputies be committed to writing, freely conversed 
upon, — and measures taken for amendment." The proposition was 
considered reasonable, and a meeting was appointed to be held at 
Haddock's Mill, two or three miles west of Hillsborough, on the 
10th of October, to inquire into the acts of government, — "for 
while men were men, if even the So7is of Liberty were put in 
office they would become corrupt and oppressive, unless they were 
called upon to give an account of their stewardship." 



52 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The company meetings were held, and the delegates were ap- 
pomted ; in some cases, with written commissions, viz : — " At a 
meeting in the neighborhood of Deep River, 20th of August, 1766, 
it was unanimously agreed to appoint W. C. and W. M. to attend 
a general meeting on the 10th of October, at Maddock's Mill, 
where they are judiciously to examine whether the freemen in 
this county labor under any abuses of power ; and in particular to 
examine into the jmblic tax, and inform themselves of every parti- 
cular thereof, by what laivs, and for what use it is laid, in order to 
remove some jealousies out of our minds." " And the representa- 
tives, vestrymen, and other officers, are requested to give the mem- 
bers what information and satisfaction they can, so far as they 
value the good will of every honest freeholder, and the executing 
public offices pleasant and delightsome." 

On the appointed day, the 10th of October, 1766, the delegates 
assembled ; after some time, James Watson, a friend of Col. Fan- 
ning, the most odious officer in the county, came, and as a reason 
for his not appearing to give account as their representative, read 
a message from Fanning, that, " It had been his intention of at- 
tending them till a few days ago, when he observed in the notice 
from Deep River, the -word judiciousli/, which signified the author- 
ity of a court ; and that he considered the meeting an insurrection." 
The meeting had full and free discussion on a variety of topics ; 
and finally resolved that such meetings as the present were neces- 
sary, annually, or oftencr, to hear from their representatives and 
officers, in order to have the benefits of their constitution and the 
choice of their rulers ; and that as their representatives, sheriffs, 
vestry and other officers had not met them here, with but one 
exception, they should have another opportunity of conferring with 
their constituents. It is impossible to conceive what fairer mode 
of ascertaining the truth could be devised by men situated as they 
were, without a printing press and without newspapers. Such 
proceedings might, in the colonial days, be rebellion to be put 
down ; in these days of liberty, a man would lose his hold on the 
community were he to refuse compliance with such commands 
from his constituents, or the community at large. 

In April, 1767, another meeting was held at the same place, 
Maddock's Mills, and the following preamble and resolutions were 
discussed and adopted, by which these men passed the Rubicon ; 
and from being called a mob, or insurgents, were known by the 
name of Regulators, or The Regulation, and were considered 
as having some continued existence : 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IX THE REVOLUTION. 53 

" We, the subscribers, do voluntarily agree to form ourselves 
into an association, to assemble ourselves for conference for regu- 
lating public grievances and abuses of power, in the following 
particulars, with others of the like nature that may occur, viz. : 

" 1st. That we will pay no more taxes until we are satisfied they 
are agreeable to law, and applied to the purposes therein mention- 
ed, vmless we cannot help it, or are forced, 

" 2d. That we will pay no officer anymore fees than the law al- 
lows, and unless we are obliged to it ; and then to show our dis- 
like, and bear an open testimony against it. 

" 3d. That we will attend our meetings of conference as often as 
we conveniently can, and is necessary in order to consult our re- 
presentatives on the amendment of such laws as may be found 
grievous or unnecessary ; and to choose more suitable men than 
we have done heretofore for burgesses and vestrymen ; and to 
petition the houses of assembly, governor, council, king, and par- 
liament, &c., for redress in such grievances as in the course of the 
undertaking may occur ; and to inform one another, learn, know, 
and enjoy all the privileges and liberties that are allowed, and were 
settled on us by our worthy ancestors, the founders of our present 
constitution, in order to preserve it on its ancient foundation, that 
it may stand firm and unshaken. 

" 4th. That we will contribute to collections for defraying neces- 
sary expenses attending the work, according to our abilities. 

" 5th. That in case of difference' in judgment, we will submit to 
the judgment of the majority of our body. 

" To all which we solemnly swear, or being a Quaker, or other- 
wise scrupulous in conscience of the common oath, do solemnly 
affirm, that we will stand true and faithful to this cause, till we 
bring things to a true regulation, according to the true intent and 
meaning hereof, in the judgment of a majority of us." 

These resolutions were drawn up by Harmon Husbands. 

A subscription was set on foot, and fifty pounds were collected 
for the purpose of defraying the expenses of such suits as might 
arise in seeking redress of their grievances. 

During this year, 1767, the governor commenced his palace at 
Newbern, for which, with great difficulty, he had obtained an ap- 
propriation of £5,000 by the last legislature ; and proceeded in a 
tasteful and expensive style of building, to expend the whole sum 
upon the foundation and a small part of the superstructure. At the 
meeting of the two houses in December of this year, the governor 
laid before them the condition of the building. The legislature 



54 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

with reluctance gave, as the only alternative, £10,000 more to 
complete the palace. When finished it was pronounced the most 
superb building in the United Provinces. The governor was grati- 
fied, and the people incensed. The taxes had been burdensome — 
the palace rendered them intolerable. 

On the 21st of May, 1768, the Regulators had another meeting, 
and determined to petition the governor direct, and prepared their 
address ; which, with a copy of their proceedings at this and the 
previous meetings, was sent to His Excellency, by James Hunter 
and Rednap Howell. In the month of June, these gentlemen 
waited upon the governor at Brunswick ; and in reply to their peti- 
tion, received a written document from which the following extracts 
are made : 

" The grievances complained of by no means warrant the ex- 
traordinary steps you have taken : in consideration of a determina- 
tion to abide by my decision in council, it is my direction, by the 
unanimous advice of that board, that you do, from henceforward, 
desist from any further meetings, cither by verbal appointments or 
advertisement. That all titles of Regulators or Associators cease 
among you. As you w'ant to be satisfied what is the amount of 
the tax for the public service for 1767, I am to inform you, it is 
seven shillings a taxable, besides the county and parish taxes, the 
particulars of which I will give to Mr. Hunter. I have only to 
add, I shall be up at Hillsborough the beginning of next month." 

In all these public and documentary proceedings of the Regula- 
tors, we see nothing to blame, and much to admire. On these 
principles, and to this extent of opposition, the whole western 
counties were agreed. The most sober and sedate in the com- 
munity were united in resisting the tyranny of unjust and exorbi- 
tant taxes ; and had been aroused to a degree of violence and op- 
position difficult to manage and hard to quell. And the more 
restless and turbulent and unprincipled parts of society, equally 
aggrieved, and more ungovernable, cast themselves in as a 
part of the resisting mass of population, with little to gain, but 
greater license for their unprincipled passions, and little to 
lose, could they escape confinement and personal punishment. 
These persons were guilty of lynching the sheriffs, that is, seizing 
those they found in the exercise of their office, tying them to a 
black-jack, or other small trees, beating them severely with rods, 
laughing and sliouting to see their contortions ; they would rescue 
property which had been seized for taxes, often with great vio- 
lence ; and on one occasion, in April, 1768, proceeded to fire a few 
shots upon the house of Edmund Fanning in Hillsborough. These 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 55 

unjustifiable acts were charged upon the party ; and tlie Regula- 
tors were made accountable for all the ill that wicked men chose to 
perpetrate under the name of struggling for liberty ; while it is 
well known that the leaders of this oppressed party never expressed 
a desire to be free from law or equitable taxation. The gover- 
nor's palace, double and treble fees and taxes without reason, drove 
the sober to resistance, and the passionate and unprincipled to 
outrage. But there were cases of injustice most foul and crying 
that might palliate, where they could not justify, the violence that 
followed ; such as taking advantage of the quietness of the Regu- 
lators to seize a man's horse with the bridle and saddle, and selling 
them for four or five dollars to an officer, to pay taxes resisted as 
illegal. 

The sheriff had taken advantage of a peculiar conjuncture of 
events to seize two of the leading men. A meeting had been 
agreed upon to be held on the 20th of May, 1768, v/hen the 
sheriff and vestrymen would meet a deputation from the Regula- 
tors, and give them satisfaction. Previous to that day a messen- 
ger came from the governor with a proclamation against the Regu- 
lation as an insurrection ; the sheriff immediately, with a party of 
thirty horsemen, rode some fifty miles, and seizing Harmon Hus- 
bands a^^d William Hunter, confined them in Hillsborough jail. 
The whole country arose, and making an old Scotchman of some 
seventy years of age, Ninian Bell Hamilton, their leader, marched 
iowards Hillsborough to the rescue. When they reached the 
Eno, they found the prisoners set free, with this condition laid upon 
them among others — " nor show any jealousies of the officers 
taking extraordinary fees." When the Regulators reached the 
Eno, Fanning went down to meet them with a bottle of rum in 
one hand and of wine in the other, and called for a horse to take 
him over — " ye're nane too gude to wade," replied the old Scotch- 
man. Fanning waded the river, but no one would partake of his 
refreshments, or listen to his statements. The governor's messen- 
ger, who had just then returned, rode up to them, read the governor's 
message, and assured them that, on application to the governor, he 
would redress their grievances and protect them from extortion and 
oppression of any officer, provided they would disperse and go 
home. The whole company cried out, " agreed ! agreed !" and 
immediately dispersed. This event preceded the visit made by 
Hunter and Howell to the governor. 

Early in July, 1768, the governor arrived in Hillsborough, and 
issuing a proclamation, as he had promised Hunter and Howell, 



56 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

excited the expectations of the country that some redress would be 
granted. But sending the sheriff to collect the taxes, and with 
him a letter addressed to the people of a similar import with his 
proclamations and previous letters, these fond expectations were all 
broken, and the excited people drove off the sheriff with threats 
of his hfe if he persisted in his efforts, and sent a reply to the gov- 
ernor. On a false alarm, a large body of the Regulators assem- 
bled in arms, on the night of the 11th of August, near Hillsbo- 
rough. The nearest companies of militia were called upon ; and 
a large body assembled to defend the governor from injury or 
insult. The better part of the community were averse to the irregu- 
larities of those lawless spirits who, attaching themselves to the 
cause of liberty, greatly impeded its progi-ess ; and desired to go- 
vern themselves and persuade their nciglibors, by reason, to gain 
the justice they demanded. Frequent communications passed be- 
tween the governor and the leaders of the Regulators before the 
session of the superior court, Sept. 22d, at which Husband and 
Butler were to be tried ; and the demands of His Excellency always 
implied absolute submission ; while the Regulators insisted on 
protection. On the day of trial, between three and four thousand 
people assembled near the town, but no violence was committed ; 
the court proceeded ; Husbands was acquitted ; Hunter and two 
others were found guilty of riot, lined heavily and committed to 
jail, from which two soon found the means of escape, and all soon 
received the pardon of the governor. A number of indictments 
were found against Fanning ; he was pronounced guilty on all, 
and fined one penny each. 

After tliis display of justice, the governor issued a proclamation 
of a general pardon to all who had been engaged in the late riotous 
movements, except thirteen individuals designated by name. 
These were probably esteemed by the governor as principal men 
among the Regulators in Orange county, and their names are pre- 
served, James Hunter, Ninian Hamilton, Peter Craven, Isaac 
Jackson, Harmon Husbands, Matthew Hamilton, William Payne, 
Ninian Bell Hamilton, Malachy Tyke, William Moffat, Christo- 
pher Nation, Solomon Goff, and John O'Ncil. Supposing the 
country sufficiently pacified, the governor returned to his palace, 
soon to find that the people wore neitlicr deceived nor dispirited. 

The course of events in the upper country flowed on in a dis- 
turbed channel, during the remaining part of the year 1768, the 
whole of 1769 and 1770. The Regidators held their meetings, 
often in an excited, but never in a dissipated manner, and con- 



FIRST BLOOD SUED IN THE REVOLUTION. 0/ 

tiiiued to throw more and more difficulties in the way of the slieritTs 
and other officers, whose exactions increased by impunity. All 
classes felt the evil, and a greater number than formerly de- 
termined on resistance. In March, 1770, Maurice Moore reported 
to the governor from Salisbury, where he had gone to hold the 
superior court, — " that the sheriffs of the several counties of that 
district, complained heavily of the opposition made to them in the 
exercise of their duties, by the Regulators ; that it was impossible 
to collect a tax or levy an execution ; plain proofs, among others, 
that their designs have even extended forthcr than to promote a 
public inquiry into the conduct of public officers :" and he prayed 
that it might not be found necessary to redress the evil " by means 
equal to the obstinacy of the people." 

On the records of the superior court in Hillsborough, imdcr 
date of Sept. 24th, 1770, is the following entry, which requires no 
comment. " Several persons styling themselves Regulators, 
assembled together in the com-t-yard under the conduct of Husbands, 
James Hunter, Rednap Howell, William Butler, Sanniel Divinny, 
and many others, insulted some of the gentlemen of the bar, and 
in a riotous manner went into the court-house, and forcibly carried 
out some of the attorneys, and in a cruel manner, beat ^lem. 
They then insisted that the judge (Richard Henderson being the 
only one on the bench) should proceed to trial of their leaders, who 
had been indicted at a former court, and that the jury should be 
taken out of their party. Therefore, the judge finding it impossi- 
ble to proceed with honor to himself and justice to his country, 
adjourned the court until to-morrow at 10 o'clock ; and took ad- 
vantage of the night and made his escape, and the court adjourned 
to meet in course." 

The next entry is as follows, viz. : 

" March term, 1771. The persons styling themselves Regula- 
tors, under the conduct of Harmon Husbands, James Hunter, Red- 
nap Howell, William Butler, and Sanmel Divinny, still continuing 
their riotous meetings, and severely threatening the judges, lawyers, 
and other officers of the court, prevented any of the judges or 
lawyers attending. Therefore, the court adjourned till the next 
September term." So it appears there was no superior court in 
Orange for a year ; and in Kownn the course of justice was greatl)^ 
impeded. 

To these acts of rebellion, unfortunately, were added acts of 
personal violence that called the governor from his palace, with his 
armed force to revenge. Inunediately after the adjournment of tlie 



58 



SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



court, a lawyer, Mr. John Williams, on his way to the court- 
house, was met by a number of individuals, who seized and beat 
him severely in the streets. Edmund Fanning, the person most 
obnoxious to the community, was seized in the court-house, 
dragged out by his heels, severely beaten, and kept in confinement 
during the night. In the morning, when it was discovered there 
would be no court, he was beaten again ; his fine house, which 
occupied the site 'of the present Masonic Hall, was torn down, and 
his elegant furniture destroyed. While the buildings on the pre- 
mises were falling under the hands of the Regulators, a bell, 
which had been procured for the Episcopal church, and deposited 
with Fanning for safe keeping, was discovered. The cry was 
raised, " it's a spice mortar ;'' and in a twinkling, Fanning's spice 
mortar was scattered in fragments. 

The excited multitude then proceeded to the court-house ; ap- 
pointed a man by the name of Yorke as clerk ; set up a mock 
judge ; called over the cases ; directed Fanning to plead law ; 
and pronounced judgment in mock gravity and ridicule of the 
court, and law, and officers, by whom they felt themselves 
aggrieved. Henderson informed the governor, and urged his 
special attendance, and proposed the calling of the Assembly. 
Soon after, the house, barn, and out-buildings of the judge, were 
burned to the ground. 

The governor postponed the calling of the legislature till the 
usual time ; and received them in the palace, which had just been 
completed, amidst the confusion of the upper country, so greatly 
aggravated by its erection. Vigorous measures were proposed to 
restore peace to the upper country ; four new counties were set off 
— Guilford, Chatham, Surry, and Wake. With the hopes of divid- 
ing the attention of the people, a proclamation was issued forbid- 
ding merchants, traders, or others, to supply any person with pow- 
ddr and shot, or lead, till further notice ; and finally it was deter- 
mined to proceed to extremities, and on the 19th March, 1771, the 
governor issued his circular to the colonels and commanding offi- 
cers of the regiments, stating the grievances the government was 
suff"cring ; he adds — " You are to take fifty volunteers from your 
regiment, to form one company," &c., ofl"cring, at the same time, 
liberal rations, bounty and pay. No little difficulty was found in 
collecting the necessary forces, from the great unwillingness of the 
militia to march against men, in whose doings there was so much 
to justify, and so little to condemn and punish. 

On the 9th of May, after many delays, he was encamped, as 



FIRST BLOOD SUED IN THE REVOLUTION. 59 

we have said, on the banks of the Eno, near Hillsborough, 
General Hugh Waddel had been directed to march vi^ith the forces 
of Bladen and Cumberland, and to rendezvous in Salisbury, and 
collect the forces from the western counties, and join the governor 
in Orange, now Guilford. While he was encamped at Salisbury, 
waiting for the arrival of ammunition from Charleston, the exploit 
known in tradition as the Black Boys was performed by a company 
of men in Cabarrus county, who, lying in wait in disguise, with 
blackened faces, intercepted the convoy of ammunition between 
Charlotte and Salisbury, routed the guard, blew up the powder, 
and escaped \mhurt. 

Having crossed the Yadkin, Waddel found a large company of 
Regulators assembled to prevent his advance ; his own men were 
many of them averse to violence, and others strongly in favor of 
the insurgents, and were falling away from his ranks. Upon 
receiving threats of violence if he continued to advance, in a 
council of officers, he determined to retreat across the Yadkin. 

" General Waddel's Camp, ) 

''Potts'' Creek, 10 th May, 1771. > 

" By a Council of Officers of the Western Detachment : — 

" Considering the great superiority of the insurgents in number, 
and the resolution of a great part of their own men not to fight, 
it was resolved that they should retreat across the Yadkin. 
" William Lindsay, Griffith Rutherford, 

Ad' Alexander, Saml. Spencer, 

Thos. Neel, Robert Harris, 

Fr. Ross, Saml. Snead, 

Robt. Schaw, Wm. Luckie. 

"May 11th, Captain Alexander made oath before Griffith 
Rutherford, that he had passed along the lines of the Regulators 
in arms, drawn up on ground he was acquainted with. The foot 
appeared to him to extend a quarter of a mile, seven or eight deep, 
and the horse to extend one hundred and twenty yards, twelve or 
fourteen deep." 

On Waddel's retreat the Regulators pressed on him, and many 
of his men deserting, he reached Salisbury with a greatly dimi- 
nished force, and immediately despatched a messenger to Tryon 
to warn him of the common danger. The governor, already 
alarmed at the reports that came in, of forces gathering on the 
Alamance, on the route to Salisbury, raised his camp immediately, 



60 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and on the 13th of May crossed Haw River; and on the evening 
of the 14th, encamped within six miles of the Regulators, on the 
Alamance. On the 15th, the Regulators sent a message to the 
governor making propositions of accommodation, and asking an 
answer in four hours. He promised them one by noon the next 
day. In the evening. Captain Ashe and Captain John Walker 
being caught out of camp, by the Regulators, were tied to trees, 
severely whipped, and made prisoners. On this, as on the preced- 
ing night, one -third of the forces was under arms all night. On 
the 16th, Try on began his march at daybreak, and moved on 
silently within half a mile of the insurgents, and there proceeded 
to form his line, the discharge of two cannon being the signal. 
Here Rev. David Caldwell, who, at the solicitations of his parish- 
ioners and acquaintances, some of whom were with the Regulators, 
had visited Tryon's camp on the 1 5th, in company with Alexander 
Martin, afterwards governor of the State, to persuade the gover- 
nor to mild measures, again visited the camp, and it is said 
obtained a promise from the governor that he would not fire until 
he had tried negotiation, Tryon sent in his reply to the Regu- 
lators, demanding unconditional submission, and gave an hour for 
consideration : they heard with great impatience a first and second 
reading. Both parties advanced to within about three hundred 
yards of each other ; Tryon sent a magistrate to the insurgents with 
a proclamation to disperse within an hour, and also commenced a 
negotiation for an exchange of Captains Ashe and Walker. 
Robert Thompson, who had with some others come into the camp 
to negotiate with the governor, was detained as a prisoner, and at- 
tempting to leave camp without liberty, the governor seized a gun 
and shot him dead with his own hand. A flag of truce sent out by 
him was immediately fired on by the excited people, many of whom 
were near enough to witness the circumstances of Thompson's 
death. The parties had gradually been drawing nearer and nearer 
to each other, the insurgents somewhat irregularly, till their Imes 
in places almost met. The governor gave the word "^re," his 
men hesitated, and the Regulators, many of them with rude antics, 
dared them to " fire." " Fire ! " cried the governor, rising in his 
stirrups ; " fire ! on them or on me !" and the action began. 
The cannon were discharged, and the military commenced firing 
by platoons ; the Regulators in an irregular manner from behind 
trees. Some stout young men of the Regulators rushed forward 
and seized the cannon of the governor, but not knov^dng how to 
use them, speedilyj gave them up and retreated. A flag of truce 



FIRST BLOOD SUED IN THE REVOLUTION. Gl 

was sent out by the governor to stop the battle ; an old Scotch- 
man cried out to the Regulators, " it's a flag, don't fire ;" but 
almost immediately three or four rifles vi^ere discharged, and the 
flag fell. The firing was renewed with fresh vigor by the military, 
and the Regulators in the general fled, leaving a few posted behind 
trees, who continued their fatal aim till their ammunition was 
exhausted, or they were in danger of being surrounded. 

Some of the Regulators had wished and expected to fight ; but 
the greater part that had assembled expected that the governor, 
seeing their numbers, would parley with them, and ultimately 
grant their demands. Rev. Mr. Caldwell, just from Tryon's camp, 
was riding along the lines urging the men to go home without vio- 
lence, when the command to fire was given, and with difficulty 
escaped from the conflict. 

They had no commander to regulate their motions, they had 
none with them used to camps and wars to give them advice ; 
there had of late been no expeditions against the savages, and the 
military life, further than to shoot a rifle and live on short rations, 
was all new. " 0," said an old man, who was in the battle, to Mr. 
Caruthers, " 0, if John and Daniel Gillespie had only known as 
much about military discipline then as they knew a few years after 
that, the bloody Tryon would never have slept in his palace again !" 
Many that were defeated in that bloodshed, in a few years showed 
Cornwallis they had learned to fight better than in the day of 
Tryon's victory on the Alamance. It is the unvarying tradition 
among the people of the country, that the Regulators had but 
little ammunition, and did not flee till it was all expended. 

Nine of the Regulators, and twenty-seven of the militia were 
left dead on the field ; a great number were wounded on both 
sides in this- skirmish, or battle — in this first blood shed for the 
'enjoy?neiit of libm'ty. We cannot but admire the principles that 
led to the result, h'dw much soever we may deplore the excesses 
that preceded, and the 'bloodshed itself. 

The excesses of the Reg^ators had been great, as has been 
recorded, but the barbarities of the governor upon his prisoners, 
after his victory, make these lamented deeds dwindle into harmless 
sport. On the evening of the battle, he proceeded to hang, without 
trial or form, James Few (whom he had taken prisoner), a young 
man, a carpenter, that owned a little spot of land near Hillsborough, 
where Mr. Kirkham's house now stands, of quiet and industrious 
habits, goaded on to rebellion by the exactions of Fanning ; and at 
last, driven to madness by the dishonor done by that man to hi.^ 



62 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

intended bride, he joined the Regulators, and proclaimed himself 
^' sent by heaven to release the world of oppression, and to begin 
in Carolina^ And not content with this, the governor's ven- 
geance follov^^ed his aged parents, and having executed their son, 
Tryon proceeded to destroy the little provision made for their 
helplessness and age. 

Captain Messer was condemned to be hung the next day. His 
wife, hearing of his captivity and intended fate, came with her oldest 
child, a lad of about ten years, to visit and intercede for her husband. 
Her kindness comforted but could not redeem her husband, the 
father of her children ; the governor was inflexible. While the pre- 
parations were making for the execution, she lay upon the ground 
weeping, her face covered with her hands, and the weeping boy 
by her side. When the fatal moment, as he supposed, had arrived, 
the boy, stepping up to Tryon, says : " Sir, hang me and let my 
father live !" " Who told you to say that ?" said the governor. 
" Nobody !" replied the lad. " And why," said the governor, " do 
you ask that ?" " Because," said the boy, " if you hang my 
father my mother will die, and the children will perish." " Well !" 
said the governor, deeply moved by the earnestness and affecting 
simplicity of the lad, " your father shall not be hung to-day." On 
suggestion of Fanning, Messer was offered his liberty on condi- 
tion that he would bring in Harmon Husbands, his wife and child 
being kept as hostages. After an absence of some days he re- 
turned, saying he had overtaken him in Virginia, but could not 
bring him back ; he was put in chains and taken along as prisoner. 
After resting a few days on Sandy River, the governor passed 
on as far as the Yadkin, and having issued a proclamation, that all 
those who had been engaged in these disturbances, excepting the 
prisoners in camp, the company called the Black Boys, and sixteen 
others, that should come into camp, lay down their arms, and take- 
the oath of allegiance before the 10th of July, should receive a 
free pardon : and having sent General Waddel with a company of 
twenty-five light horse, one field-piece, and a respectable corps of 
militia to visit the counties to the west and south, and return 
home, himself took a circuit round through Stokes, Rockingham, 
Guilford to Hillsborough. In all his circuit, after the bloodshed, 
he exhibited his prisoners in chains, particularly in the villages he 
passed. He exacted the oath of allegiance from all the inhabitants 
that could be found ; levied contributions of provisions with a 
lavish hand upon the suspected and the absent ; he seized one 
Johnson, who was reported to have spoken disrespectfully of Lady 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 63 

Wake, from whom one of the counties lately forcibly set off had 
been called, a beautiful and accomplished lady ; and for his want 
of gallantry to this sister of the governor's wife, condemned him 
to five hundred lashes on his bare back, two hundred and fifty of 
which were inflicted ; and offered a reward of a tliousand acres of 
land, and one hundred pounds in money, for Harmon Husbands, 
James Butler, Rednap Howell, and others of the Regulators ; and 
filled his measure of tyrannical glory by burning houses, destroy- 
ing crops, and holding courts-martial for civil crimes. On 
reaching Hillsborough, he held a special court for the trial of his 
prisoners, twelve of whom were condemned to death on his urgent 
statements, and six were actually executed. The real leaders had 
all escaped, but a sacrifice must be made ; the court hesitated and 
delayed ; he sent his aide-de-camp to chide and threaten their 
delay ; the soldier and governor were lost in the tyrant and the 
savage. 

On the 19th of June, six prisoners were publicly executed near 
Hillsborough, of whom the unfortunate Messer was one, reprieved 
a few days by the spirit of his child, only to be carried about in 
chains, and hung ignominiously at last. The governor, in person, 
gave orders for the parade at the execution, and, as Maurice Moore 
said, " left a ridiculous idea of his character behind, bearing a 
strong resemblance to that of an undertaker at a funeral." 

Robert Mateer, one of the victims, was a quiet, inoffensive, 
upright man, who had never joiTiied the Regulators. On the 
morning of the bloodshed he visited Tryon's camp with Robert 
Thompson, and was detained with him a prisoner ; being recog- 
nized as the person who had, some time before, grievously offended 
the governor in the matter of a letter entrusted to his care, he was 
condemned, and made one of the six that were executed ; beloved 
while living, and lamented when dead. 

Captain Merrill, from the Jersey Settlement, or, as others say, 
from Mecklenburg county, was on his way to join the Regu- 
lators — probably had been engaged in intercepting Waddel — with 
three hundred men under his command. Hearing of the defeat 
and dispersion of the Regulators on the Alamance, when within a 
day's march, his men dispersed, and he returned home, but was 
afterwards taken prisoner, and was made one of the six that were 
executed. A pious man, he professed his faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and declared himself ready to die, and died like a soldier 
and a Christian, singing very devoutly, with his dying breath, a 



64 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Psalm of David, like the Covenanters in the Grass Market in 
Edinburgh. 

James Pugh, an ingenious gunsmith, had, during the firing at 
Alamance, killed with his rifle some fifteen of those who served 
the cannon, and delaying his escape too long was taken prisoner, 
and made one for this day's sacrifice. When placed under the 
gallows he asked and obtained leave from the governor to addfess 
the people for half an hour. He justified his course, professed his 
readiness to meet God, inveighed against the oppression of the 
public officers, and particularly against Fanning. This dastardly 
man, unable to bear the reproaches of his victim, made the sug- 
gestion, and the barrel, on which the prisoner stood, was over- 
turned, and the young man launched into eternity, his speech 
unfinished and his half hour unexpired. 

These men may have been rash, but they were not cowards : 
they may have been imprudent, but they were suffering under 
wrong and outrage, and the withholding justice, and the proper 
exercise of law. "And if oppression will make a wise man mad," 
the ten years of such oppression as these suffered, would have 
proved them fit for subjection had they been submissive. 

Tryon returned to his costly palace in Newborn, only to bid it 
farewell, and make room for Josiah Martin, who knew better how 
to appreciate these people and their complaints. Edmund Fan- 
ning, the cause of so much trouble, gathered a company and met the 
governor on his first approach to Orange ; went with him to Ala- 
mance, and as the firing commenced, found it indispensable to take 
his post many miles in the rear, whether through fear of his life, 
or of shedding the Regulators' blood. Harmon Husbands, also, on 
the other side, rode faster and farther on that day. He had been 
active for years in exciting the people to resistance, making 
speeches, circulating information, drawing up memorials and 
papers of a political cast, and taking the lead in measures that 
brought on the bloodshed in Alamance. He had been once put in 
prison while a member of the legislature, for his principles and 
connection with the disturbances in Orange ; but when the cannon 
began to roar at Tryon's command, on tlie 16th of May, on the 
Alamance, he mounted his horse and rode rapidly away to the moi-e 
quiet State of Pennsylvania, and was not seen again in Carolina 
till after the Revolution — professing that his principles as a Quaker 
forbade him to fight, though they impelled him to resistance. When 
the time of trial came, that men must submit or flee, or bleed, he 
escaped, while others poured out their blood. He and all like him 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 65 

are passed over in the inquiries we make about the people vv^ho 
bore the burthen of the Revohition and its previous struggles. 

The question now arises, who were these people ? — and whence 
did they come ? They could discuss the rights and privi- 
leges of men ; they could write in a manner that has been pro- 
nounced " the style of the Revolution ;" and they were men that 
feared an oath. The oath of allegiance exacted by Try on, from 
multitudes, as the condition of their lives and property, hung on 
their consciences through life, and no reasoning could convince 
them they were free from its awful sanctions, though the king 
could afford them no protection. One of these, who was in the 
bloodshed of Alamance, and afterwards had borne arms for the 
king, as he considered himself bound to do, said sorrowfully at 
the close of the Revolution — " I have fought for my country, and 
fought for my king ; and have been whipped both times." Still 
his oath bound his conscience, while he rejoiced it did not reach 
his children. 

The descendants of these people, who were at the time treated 
as rebels, and stigmatized in government papers as ignorant and 
headstrong and unprincipled, hold the first rank in their own coun- 
try for probity and intelligence ; have held the first offices in their 
own and the two younger and neighboring States ; and have not 
been debarred the highest offices in the Union. 

In less than four years from this period, those who were not 
crushed by the solemnities of the' oath Tryon forced on them, 
united with their brethren of Mecklenburg of the same stock, and 
kindred faith, in maintaining the first declaration of independence 
made in North America — a declaration sealed with blood in North 
Carolina, but never, like the Regulation, put down. The princi- 
ples of the Regulators never were put down ; and in the contest 
with the governor, there is little doubt on which side the victory 
would have declared itself had there been a military man at the 
head of the undisciplined people, or had they been fully convinced 
the governor would fire upon them. Repeatedly had these men 
gathered at Hillsborough, and dispersed without violence, on pro- 
mise of redress ; and Waddel had been met and turned back with- 
out bloodshed a few days before. The greater part expected 
some terms of reconciliation, while some wished for the contest, 
and many were ready to fight. 

The address sent in to Tryon the day before the bloodshed, in 
which they promised to disperse and go home if he would redress 
their grievances, shows they were not expecting the governor 
5 



66 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLE^A. 

would proceed to violence. The feelings of a great part of the 
western counties were united in the object of their efforts ; and 
many of the inhabitants of the seaboard were on their side. The 
militia of Duplin refused to march against them, with the exception 
of a company of light horse under Capt. Bullock, and also refused 
the oath of allegiance the governor offered them on his return. In 
Halifax there were many supporters of their principles ; in New- 
born itself many, in fact, the majority of the militia assembled, de- 
clared in their favor. Not a few men of eminence favored them 
more or less openly, advocating the principles, but greatly disap- 
proving the excesses of the violent. Of these were such men as 
Maurice Moore, judge of the Superior Court ; Thomas Person, the 
founder of Person Hall, at Chapel Hill ; and Alexander Martin, 
afterwards governor of the State. 

Martin, the historian, who appears to know so little about the 
principles and habits of the persons engaged, says that there were 
" several thousand families" scattered through the upper counties : 
and so there were — and these gathered into congregations of reli- 
gious worshippers all along from the Virginia to the South Carolina 
line. It is the origin of these that is now inquired after ; and the 
nature of their religion, so favorable to mental exercise and improve- 
ment, to civil freedom and the rights of man, that is to be deline- 
ated, — a religion the same now as in the days of the American 
Revolution, — and the great English Revolution of 1688, — and the 
same in spirit and substantial forms as when the great Apostle 
plead his cause, in chains, at Rome. 

There has been as yet no monument erected to the memory of 
those who fell on the Alamance, in this first bloodshed in the cause 
of oppressed freemen seeking their rights : they sleep in unhonorcd 
graves, as also do those who were publicly executed in the same 
glorious cause near Hillsborough, June 19th, 1771. But you can 
find the battle ground and graves of the slain, on the old road from 
Hillsborough to Salisbury by Martinville, or Guilford old court- 
house. It is a locality to be remembered, for the event must 
always fill an honorable page in any full and fair history of North 
Carolina, or of the United States, as the first resistance to blood, 
in which resistance was determined upon, even should resistance 
end in wounds and death. 

The Regulators may have been rude, they certainly were un- 
polished ; but they were not ignorant, neither did they lack intelli- 
gence, nor exhibit as a people any lack of religious or moral princi- 
ple. On the contrary, their estimation of an oath far transcended 



FIRST BLOOD SHED IN THE REVOLUTION. 67 

the expectation of the governor, who anticipated much from a 
people taught by McAden, Caldwell, Pattillo, and Craighead, all 
eminent in their vocation as gospel ministers. 

Differing from the governor in their religious principles as much 
as in their political creed, they were condemned by the king's officers 
to fines and plunder and confiscation and death, and by the ministers 
of the State religion to endless perdition. There is extant a sermon 
preached before the governor at Hillsborough, on Sunday, the 25th 
of September, 1768, by George Micklejohn, from Romans, chapter 
xiii., 1st and 2d verses — in which the preacher avows that the 
governor ought to have executed at least twenty on that his first 
visit ; and that the rebels could not escape the damnation of hell 
on account of their resistance to the existing government. But 
these outraged men sought deliverance from the oppression of 
man, and hoped in the mercy of Almighty God. And they found 
from heaven what was denied by earth. 

The succeeding pages will give a collection of facts that shall 
present the history of principles that cannot die, and are always 
effective. The scene of action and the actors but reflect additional 
tints of beauty on what, in themselves, are immortal, — the princi- 
ples of true government and undefiled religion. 



68 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

CHAPTER III. 

A PAPER ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, DRAWN UP IN 1775. 

" She has seven sons in the rebel army," was the reason given 
by the British officer for plundering the farm and burning the house 
of Widow Brevard, in Centre Congregation, while Cornwallis was 
in pursuit of Morgan and Greene, after the victory of the Cowpens. 
What a mother ! seven sons in the army at one time ! all fighting 
for the independence of their country ! And for this glorious fact, 
the house of the widow plundered and burned, and her farm pil- 
laged ! 

One son, Captain Alexander Brevard, a tall, dignified gentleman, 
independent in his feelings and his manners, rendered signal ser- 
vices in the Continental army. He took part in nine important 
battles — Brandywine, Germantown, Princeton, Stony Point, Eu- 
taw, Guilford, Camden, Ninety-Six, and Stono. Of all these, he 
used to say, the battle of the Eutaw was the sorest conflict ; in 
that he lost twenty-one of his men. When the time of hard service 
was over, he returned to private life, and never sought political pro- 
motion ; enjoying that liberty for which he had fought, and serving his 
generation as a good citizen, and the church as an elder, respected 
and beloved. He laid his bones at last m Lincoln county, the 
place of his residence for many years, in a spot selected by himself 
and General Graham. They served as soldiers in the Revolution, 
and lived as most intimate friends : having married sisters, the 
daughters of Major John Davidson, one of the members of the 
Mecklenburg Convention, they were brothers indeed ; and dying 
in the hope of a blessed resurrection, they sleep, with their wives 
and many of their children, in their chosen place of sepulture. 
You may find the graves of these honorable dead in a secluded 
place, walled in with rock, about a hundred paces from the great road 
leading from Beattie's Ford by Brevard's Furnace to Lincolnton, 
a spot where piety and affection and patriotism may meet and 
mingle their tears ; and youth may gather lessons of wisdom. 

The youngest son of this widow, afterwards Judge Brevard of 
Camden, South Carolina, was first lieutenant of a company of 
horse, at the age of seventeen, and held, through life, a correspond- 
ing station in the opinions and affections of his fellow men. 



PAPER ON CrVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 69 

Ephraim Brevard, another son of this widow, having pursued a 
course of classical studies in his native congregation, was graduated 
at Princeton College; and havingpursuedacourse of medical studies, 
was settled in Charlotte. His talents, patriotism and education, united 
with his prudence and practical sense, marked him as a leader in 
the councils, that preceded the convention, held in Queen's Mu- 
seum ; and on the day of meeting designated him as secretary and 
draughtsman of that singular and unrivalled declaration, which 
alone is a passport to the memory of posterity through all time. 

Dr. Brevard took an active part in the establishment and man- 
agement of the literary institution in Charlotte, which was, to all 
useful purposes, a college, though refused that name by the king 
and council. His name appears upon the degree given John Gra- 
ham in 1778, which is carefully preserved at Vesuvius Furnace, 
the only degree of the institution now known to be in existence. For 
a time the institution was under his instruction. 

When the British forces invaded the southern States, Dr. Bre- 
vard entered the army as surgeon, and was taken prisoner at the 
surrender of Charleston, May 12th, 1780. The sufferings of the 
captives taken in that surrendered city, moved the hearts of the 
brave inhabitants of Western Carolina, and in the tenderness of 
the female bosom found alleviation. News was circulated among 
the settlements in the upper country, that their friends and relations 
were dying of want and disease, in their captivity. The men could 
not visit them ; it would be leaping into the lion's den. The wives, 
the mothers, the sisters, the daughters, gathering clothing and pro- 
visions and medicine, sought through long journeys, the places of 
confinement, trusting to their sex, under the Providence of God, 
for their protection. These visits of mercy saved the lives of mul- 
titudes ; and in some cases were purchased by the lives of the no- 
ble females that dared to undertake them. The mother of Presi- 
dent Andrew Jackson, returning to the Waxhaw, from a visit made to 
the prisoners, having been the bearer of medicine, and clothing, and 
sympathy, was seized with a fever in that wide, sandy wilderness of 
pines that intervened, and died in a tent, and was buried by the road- 
side, and lies in an unknown grave. Multitudes perished and found a 
captive's grave ; and multitudes more contracted disease whose 
wasting influence more slowly, yet as surely, laid them low among 
their native hills. Of these was Dr. Brevard. On being set at 
liberty, he sought the residence of John McKnitt Alexander, his 
friend and co-secretary, for rest and recovery. The air of that 
mild climate, and the aid of medicine, and the watchful care of 



70 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

friends, all failed to restore him. Struggling for a time against the 
disease, with hopes of recovery, he breathed his last, about the 
time the hostile forces trod his native soil. He gave " hfe, fortune, 
and most sacred honor," in his country's service. The first was 
sacrificed ; the last is imperishable. You may search Hopewell 
graveyard in vain for a trace of his grave. His bones have moul- 
dered beneath the turf that covers Davidson and the Alexanders, 
but no stone tells where they are laid. No man living can lead 
the inquirer to the spot. 

There is a paper in his handwriting, preserved for a long time 
in the family of his friend John McKnitt Alexander, and now in 
the possession of the Governor of North Carolina, William A. 
Graham, which is as remarkable as the proceeding of the Con- 
vention on which it is based. It bears date September 1st, 1775. 
The first Provincial Congress of North Carolina was then in ses- 
sion in Hillsborough. The delegates from Mecklenburg were his 
compeers and personal friends, — Polk, Avery, Pfifer and McKnitt 
Alexander. 

" INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DELEGATES OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY. 
PROPOSED TO THE CONSIDERATION OF THE COUNTY. 

" 1st. You are instructed to vote that the late Province of North 
Carolina is, and of right ought to be, a free and independent State ; 
is vfested with the powers of Legislation, capable of making laws 
to regulate all the internal police, subject only in its internal con- 
nections and foreign commerce, to a negative of a continental 
Senate. 

" 2d. You are instructed to vote for the execution of a civil gov- 
ernment under the authority of the people, for the future security 
of all the rights, privileges, and prerogatives of the State, and the 
private, natural and unalienable rights of the constituting members 
thereof, either as men or Christians. If this should not be con- 
firmed in Congress, or Convention, — protest. 

"3d. You are instructed to vote that an equal representation be 
established, and that the qualifications required to enable any per- 
son or persons to have a voice in legislation may not be screwed 
too high, but that every freeman, who shall be called upon to sup- 
port government, either in person or property, may be admitted 
thereto. If this should not be confirmed, — protest and remon- 
strate. 

" 4th. You are instructed to vote that legislation be not a di- 
vided right, and that no man, or body of men, be invested with a 



PAPER ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 71 

negative on the voice of the people duly collected ; and that no 
honors or dignities be confirmed for life, or made hereditary on 
any person or persons, either legislative or executive. If this 
should not be confirmed, — protest and remonstrate. 

" 5th. You are instructed to vote that all and every person or 
persons, seized or possessed of any estate, real or personal, agree- 
able to the late establishment, be confirmed in their seizure and 
possession, to all intents and purposes in law, who have not for- 
feited their right to the protection of the State, by their inimical 
practices towards the same. If this should not be confirmed, — 
protest. 

"6th. You are instructed to vote that deputies, to rejoresent this 
^tate in a Continental Congress, be appointed in and by the su- 
preme legislative body of the State ; the form of the nomination 
to be submitted to, if free. And also, that all officers, the influ- 
ence of whose office is equally to extend to every part of the State, 
be appointed in the same manner and form. Likewise, give your 
consent to the establishing the old political divisions, if it should 
be voted in Convention, or to new ones if similar. On such estab- 
lishment taking place, you are instructed to vote, in general, that 
all officers, who are to exercise this authority in any of the said 
districts, be recommended to the trust only by the freemen of said 
division — to be subject, however, to the general laws and regula- 
tions of the State. If this should not be substantially confii-med, 
— protest. 

" 7th. You are instructed to move and insist that the people 
you immediately represent, be acknowledged to be a distinct 
county of this State, as formerly of the late province, with the 
additional privilege of electing in their own officers, both civil and 
military, together with election of clerks and sheriffs, by the 
freemen of the same : the choice to be confirmed by the sovereign 
authority of the State, and the officers so invested to be under the 
jurisdiction of the State, and liable to its cognizance and inflictions 
in case of malpractice. If this should not be confirmed, — protest 
and remonstrate. 

" 8th. You are instructed to vote that no chief justice, no sec- 
retary of State, no auditor-general, no surveyor-general, no prac- 
tising lawyer, no clerk of any court of record, no sheriff, and 
no person holding a military office in this State, shall be a repre- 
sentative of the people in Congress or Convention. If this should 
not be confirmed, — contend for it. 

" 9th. You are instructed to vote that all claims against the pub- 



72 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lie, except such as accrue upon attendance on Congress or Con- 
vention, be first submitted to the inspection of a committee of nine 
or more men, inhabitants of the county where said claimant is resi- 
dent, and without the approbation of said committee it shall not 
be accepted by the public ; for which purpose you are to move 
and insist that a law be enacted to empower the freemen of each 
county to choose a committee of not less than nine men, of whom 
none are to be military officers. If this should not be confirmed, 
— protest and remonstrate. 

" 10th, You are instructed to refuse to enter into any combination 
of secresy, as members of Congress and Convention, and also to 
refuse to subscribe to any ensnaring tests binding you to unlimited 
subjection to the determination of Congress or Convention. 

"11th. You are instructed to move and insist that the public 
accounts, fairly stated, shall be regularly kept in proper books, 
open to the inspection of all whom it may concern. If this should 
not be confirmed, — contend for it. 

" 12th. You are instructed to move and insist that the power 
of county courts be much more extensive than under the former 
constitution, both with respect to matters of property and breaches 
of the peace. If not confirmed, — contend for it. 

" 13th. You are instructed to assent and consent to the establish- 
ment of the Christian religion, as contained in the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testament, and more briefly comprised in the thirty- 
nine Articles of the Church of England, excluding the thirty-seventh 
article, together with all the articles excepted and not to be im- 
posed on dissenters by the Act of Toleration; and clearly held forth 
in the Confession of Faith, compiled by the Assembly of Divines 
at Westminster ; to be the religion of the State, to the utter exclu- 
sion, for ever, of all and every other (falsely so called) religion, 
whether pagan or papal ; — and that full, and free, and peaceable en- 
joyment thereof be secured to all and every constituent member 
of the State, as their unalienable right as freemen, Avithout the im- 
position of rites and ceremonies, whether claiming civil or eccle- 
siastical power for their source ; — and that a confession and pro- 
fession of the religion so established shall be necessary in qualify- 
ing any person for public trust in the Stale. If this should not 
be confirmed, — protest and remonstrate. 

" 14th. You are instructed to oppose to the utmost, any particular 
church or set of clergymen being invested with power to decree rites 
and ceremonies, and to decide in controversies of faith, to be submit- 
ted to under the influence of penal laws. You arc also to oppose the 



PAPER ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 73 

establishment of any mode of worship to be supported to the oppres- 
sion of the rights of conscience, together with the destruction of 
private property. You are to understand that under the modes of 
worship are comprehended the different forms of swearing by law 
required. You are, moreover, to oppose the establishing an eccle- 
siastical supremacy in the sovereign authority of the State. You 
are to oppose the toleration of popish idolatrous worship. If this 
should not be confirmed, — protest and remonstrate. 

" 15th. You are instructed to move and insist that not less than 
four-fifths of the body of which you are members, shall, in voting, 
be deemed a majority. If this should not be confirmed, — contend 
for it. 

" 16th. You are instructed to give your voices to and for every 
motion, or bill, made or brought into Congress or Convention, 
when they appear to be for public utility, and in no ways repug- 
nant to the above instructions. 

" 17th. Gentlemen, the foregoing instructions you are not only 
to look upon as instructions, but as charges, to which you are de- 
sired to take special heed, as the ground of your conduct as our 
Representatives ; and we expect you will exert yourselves to the 
utmost of your ability to obtain the purposes given you in charge ; 
and wherein you fail, either in obtaining or opposing, you are 
hereby ordered to enter your protest against the vote of Congress 
or Convention, as is pointed out to you in the above instructions." 

This paper will not suffer in comparison with any political pa- 
per of the age. In some respects it surpassed all with which Mr. 
Brevard and his compeers had any acquaintance. In the first 
and seventh resolutions there is a reference made to preceding 
events in North Carolina, to which nothing corresponds but the 
doings of the Mecklenburg convention. The Congress of North 
Carolina in session at the time this paper was drawn i!p, was not 
prepared for such a step as is referred to — the entire independence 
of the State. 

In the second and third resolutions, the democratic republican 
principles are announced in their full extent, — complete protection, 
and extended suffrage. In the fourth and fifth, aristocratic honors 
are done away ; and the right of property confirmed. In the 
seventh, the election of all officers, civil and military, is confirmed 
to the people at large. In the eighth, the jealous watchfulness of 
an abused community is seen in shutting out all public officers, 
from whom any oppression had been suffered under His Majesty, 
from the office of law-maker for the community. In the ninth, 



74 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tenth, and eleventh, the expenditure of the pubhc money is guarded 
from all such impositions as had been complained of in times 
past. The object and amount of all expenditures to be fairly 
stated, that no impositions like those suffered in Orange, and 
from which the Regulators sprung, might be repeated. By the 
twelfth, the execution of the laws is brought more within the 
power of the people, or at least more carefully within their view. 

But the thirteenth and fourteenth resolutions are especially 
worthy of notice, as asserting religious liberty. He does not 
take the false ground that all religions are to be contemplated, in 
the constitution of a free people, as alike open for the adoption of 
the community at large ; and that any religion, or no religion, 
may become the public sentiment without detriment to liberty : — 
but having secured to all persons undisturbed enjoyment of life^ 
land, and estate, he takes the broad ground that there is one 
true religion, and that religion is acknowledged as true by the 
State. He believed the Bible, and from it had drawn his princi- 
ples of morals, and religion, and politics : — from it, the people of 
Mecklenburg had drawn theirs, — and multitudes in Carolina had 
drawn theirs. To abjure religion would be to abjure freedom 
and the hope of immortality. The phrases confession and pro- 
fession in the thirteenth resolution, are not taken in a restricted 
sense or made denominational, but used in their enlarged mean- 
ing, embracing all Protestants, asserting the Bible to be true, and 
as a revelation containing the complete system of the only true 
religion. ■ 

To put beyond all doubt, however, what he understood by the 
Christian religion, he marks out the two well known and ac- 
credited systems of Articles with which he and his constituents 
had been familiar, and under which he arraigned all Protestants, 
both asserting the main principles of the Reformation, and one 
conjoining a system of efficient government on which he had mo- 
delled his political creed, — a creed the inhabitants of a large 
part of North Carolina were prepared to defend. He would have 
the community disown Infidelity and all Paganism, and avow the 
religion of the Bible. 

Having asserted the paramount authority of the Christian Re- 
ligion as the sole acknowledged religion of the community, — 
he then puts all denominations on a level, in political matters. 
North Carolina had suffered as little as any community had, or 
perhaps could, from a religious establishment, that is, certain 
forms and doctrines supported at public expense, and defended 



PAPER ON CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 75 

by law ; — but the evils resulting had been so many and so great, 
that these resolutions require that no denomination, not even that 
of a majority of the citizens, should have any peculiar privileges 
guaranteed by law. The people of Mecklenburg were almost 
vuiiversally of the same faith as himself ; but he asked no favor 
by the power of law. But one other State in the Union had, 
at that time, acknowledged this grand principle, and with this 
State the author of this paper had no communication. The idea 
was to him, and his constituents, a peculiar idea, — like the idea 
of independence under the supremacy of law, it was consistent 
and complete. 

Of all the forms in which religion, professedly drawn from the 
Bible, is presented in any part of the world, one only is excepted 
in the resolution, — that is the Popish. The ancestors of these 
people in Mecklenburg had brought with them, from the mother 
country, no kind remembrance of the spirit of the Popish clergy 
and their adherents. Turn to what period of the history of their 
fathers they might, and the Romish priests appeared the enemies 
of that religious liberty and civil freedom for which they panted. 
Every page of the history was stained with blood. They fully 
believed the spirit of popery unchanged ; and to tolerate it, was 
to cherish in their bosom an enemy to the very privileges and 
enjoyments for which they had labored, and for which they were 
prepared to lay down their lives. The principles of religious 
liberty, asserted by their ancestors, the other side of the ocean, 
took deep root in the wilderness of Carolina, and grew as indi- 
genous plants. The people felt they were born to be free 
— were free ; and having made declaration of their freedom, would 
maintain it against all enemies unto death. 

Now that the subject of religious liberty has been discussed 
about three-quarters of a century, in the freest country on earth, 
the only exception that can be taken against these resolutions on 
religious liberty, is on this single point — the exclusion of popish 
rite^ and ceremonies. In other colonies the contention had been 
against foreign interference with the established religion of the 
province ; here, as in Rhode Island, the ground is taken against 
all State establishments whatever. It is instructive to observe 
how this principle, avowed by Roger Williams in exile and suf- 
fering, and proclaimed by the emigrants in North Carolina, has at 
length become the received opinion of the whole United States. 
And while, on principle, the free exercise of religious rites is 
guaranteed to all that claim to be Christians, of whatever sect or 



76 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

denomination, there is a growing fear, manifesting itself in 
every section of country, lest the extension of popish rites and 
ceremonies shall be found at last injurious to civil liberty. 

The resolutions of the Mecklenburg Convention establish a go- 
vernment, and at the same time they set aside the authority of the 
king of Great Britain. In this paper the great principles on which 
to frame a constitution of the most entire freedom, fullest protection, 
and most complete dominion of law, are laid down. The one is a 
beautiful expression of enthusiastic devotion to liberty and law ; 
and the other is a calm expression of the idea of that liberty for 
which these patriots panted. Neither were mere theories or paper 
declarations ; both were realities. The people felt themselves in- 
dependent, — and that they had a natural right to the freedom they 
enjoyed in their log cabins in the wilderness, and on the plains of 
the Catawba, far removed from the wealth and refinement of the 
seaboard. Their flocks and their plains, with the skilful hands of 
their wives and daughters, and the brawny arms of their sons, and 
the mines beneath their feet, supplied the wants, and even the luxu- 
ries of men who could sleep upon straw, be contented in home- 
spun coats, and find domestic peace in a log cabin. The liberty 
for which their fathers had sighed, these men had found. They 
knew the value of the pearl, and rejoiced in that liberty in which 
God, in his grace and wonderful providence, had made them free. 

This paper is the expression of the feelings of thousands in 
Carolina in 1775, and the feelings of multitudes at this day. The 
merit of Ephraim Brevard is, not that he alone originated these 
principles, or was singular in adhering to them, but that he em- 
bodied them in so condensed a form, and expressed them so well. 
He thought clearly, — felt deeply, — wi'ote well, — resisted bravely, — 
and died a martyr to that liberty none loved better, and few under- 
stood so well. 



PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS IN N. CAROLINA. 77 



CHAPTER IV. 

COMMENCEMENT OF PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH 
CAROLINA. 

About the year 1735, a race of people diverse in habits, man- 
ners, forms of rehgious worship and doctrinal creed from those 
who had previously taken their abode in Virginia and the Carolinas, 
and destined to exert a grand and controlling influence on the 
enterprise, wealth, and prosperity of those States, began to erect 
their habitations along the western frontiers, and form a line of de- 
fence against the savages of the mountains and the great west, by 
their strong neighborhoods of hardy, enterprising men, in that re- 
gion of country extending from the Potomac river to the Savannah, 
which now forms the heart of these States, and is" most abundant 
in resources of men and things. 

Previously to that date, the emigrants to Virginia, whose descend- 
ants had spread out over the lower counties, and were progressing 
towards the mountains, were chiefly from England, with a few 
Scotch and Irish families intermingled, with one colony of Ger- 
mans in Madison county, and one of Huguenots a few miles above 
Richmond, each having its own peculiar forms of religious wor- 
ship, and ministers proclaiming the gospel in their native tongue. 

In North Carolina the first permanent settlements had been 
formed by fugitives from Virginia, who sought refuge in the mild 
climate and extended forests of this unoccupied region, — some 
from the rigid, intolerant laws of that colony, which bore so heavily 
on all that could not conform to the ceremonies of the established 
church, — and some from a desire to escape from the jurisdiction of 
all law, delighted with the license enjoyed in the plains and swamps 
of a country which, previous to the 18tb century, scarce knew the 
exercise of civil authority. When the Puritans were driven from 
Virginia, some eminently pious people settled along the seaboard, 
safe from foreign invasion, and free from the domestic oppression 
of intolerant laws and bigoted magistrates. Next to these were the 
emigrants from the West Indies and from England, who preferred 
the advantages offered by this uninhabited country to those of a 
more populous state. About the year 1707, a colony of Huguenots 
was located on tlje Trent river ; and one of Palatines at Newbern, 



78 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in 1709 ; each maintaining the peculiar habits, customs, and 
religious services of the fatherland. The Quakers, at an early- 
date, cast in their lot with the colony of Virginia ; and many 
were compelled to fly from the execution of the severe laws 
passed against their sect, and found refuge in Carolina. They 
were of English descent, and at that time, too few, in either 
State, to exert a preponderating influence on the community at 
large. 

The Presbyterian race, from the north of Ireland, is not found 
in Virginia and North Carolina, till after the year 1730, except in 
scattered families, or some small neighborhoods on the Chesapeake. 
Soon after this period it is found at the base of the Blue Ridge 
in Albemarle, Nelson, and Amherst, in Virginia ; and then in the 
great valley. About the year 1736 a colony of Presbyterians, from 
the province of Ulster, Ireland, commenced their residence on the 
head springs of the Opecquon in Frederick county, near the pre- 
sent town of Winchester ; and their descendants are found in the con- 
gregation that bears the name of the creek in that county, and also in 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. About the same time, or perhaps 
a little earlier, John Caldwell, from the north of Ireland, commenced 
a settlement on Cub-creek, in Charlotte county, Virginia, then a pro- 
vince ; and persuaded a colony of his countrymen to unite with him. 
Their descendants are found in the Cub-creek congregation, and 
those congregations that have grown out of it : and also in Kentucky 
and South Carolina — the eminent political character, John Cald- 
well Calhoun, being one of them. About the year 1736, Hem-y 
McCulloch persuaded a colony from Ulster, Ireland, to occupy his 
expected grant in Duplin county, North Carolina. Their descendants 
are widdly scattered over the lower part of the State, and the south- 
western States, with an influence that cannot be easily estimated. 

About the same period, the Presbyterian settlements "(vere 
commenced in Augusta and Rockbridge counties, Virginia ; and 
speedily increasing, they formed numerous large congregations, 
which are still flourishing, having given rise to many other con- 
gregations in the counties further west, and also in the western 
States. From all these have arisen hosts of men that have acted 
conspicuous parts east and west of the Alleghanies, during the 
century that has passed since the emigrants built their cabins on 
the frontiers of Virginia and Carolina. 

The loss of the early records of Orange presbytery has left us 
without the means of ascertaining the precise year the Presbyterian 
colonies in Granville, Orange, Rowan, Mecklenburg, and, in fact, 



PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS IN N. CAROLINA. 79 

in all that beautiful section extending from the Dan to the Catawba, 
began to occupy the wild and fertile prairies. But it is well known, 
that, previously to the year 1750, settlements of some strength 
were scattered along from the Virginia line to Georgia. On ac- 
count of the inviting nature of the climate and soil, and the com- 
parative quietness of the Catawba Indians, and the severity of the 
Virginia laws in comparison with those of Carolina, on the subject 
of religion, many colonies were induced to pass through the vacant 
lands in Virginia, in the neighborhood of their countrymen, and 
seek a home in the Carolinas. As early as 1740, there were scat- 
tered families on the Hico, and Eno, and Haw — and cabins were 
built along the Catawba. 

The time of setting off the frontier counties is known, but is no 
guide to the precise time of the first settlements. Granville 
county was set off from Edgecomb in 1743, and extended west to 
the charter limits ; Bladen was taken from New Hanover in 1 733, 
its western boundary being the charter limits ; and in 1749 Anson 
was set off from Bladen with the same western boundary. The two 
counties, Anson and Granville, embraced all the western part of the 
State in 1749. Orange was set off from Bladen in 1751, and Rowan 
from Anson in 1753, and Mecklenburg from Anson in 1762. These 
dates show the progress of emigration and increase of population, 
but do not fix the time when the cabins of the whites began to sup- 
plant the wigwams of the Indians. The dates of the land patents 
do not mark the time of emigration, as in some cases the lands 
were occupied a long period before grants were made, and the lands 
surveyed ; and in others, patents were granted before emigration. 
Some of the early settlements of Presbyterians were made before 
the lands were surveyed, particularly in the upper country. . 

Emigration was encouraged and directed very much in its 
earliest periods, by the vast prairies, with pea-vine grass and cane- 
brakes, which stretched across the States of Virginia and Carolina. 
There are large forests now in these two States, where, a hundred 
years ago, not a tree, and scarce a shrub could be seen. These 
prairies abounded with game, and supplied abundant pasturage, 
both winter and summer, for the various kinds of stock that ac- 
companied the emigrants, and formed for years no small part of their 
wealth. In 1744, Lord Granville's share of North Carolina w^as 
set off by metes and bounds, having Virginia on the north ; a line 
drawn from the sea-shore westward on the parallel of 38° 34' 
north latitude, on the south ; the Atlantic Ocean on the east ; and 
the unexplored ocean on the west. The great iiiducements 



80 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

offered by his lordship and his agents, the beauty and heaUhiness 
of the country, the fertihty of the soil, and the low rate at which 
tracts of land were set to sale, attracted attention, and brought 
purchasers for residence and for speculation. Every additional 
colony increased the value of the remaining possessions of his 
lordship. 

The remaining part of the upper country was held by grants 
made from the crown, from time to time, and by the grantees so],d 
out in smaller sections. There is nothing, however, in the peculiar 
circumstances of making the land purchases, or in the country 
itself, or the time in which the settlements were made, that can 
account for the spirit, principles, and habits of the people. These 
they brought with them, and left as a legacy to their children ; 
they had wrought wonders in the fatherland, turning the scale of 
revolution in 1688, putting the crown on the head of WilHam, 
Prince of Orange, and working out purity of morals, inspiring a 
deep sense of religious liberty and personal independence, under 
all the withering influences of prelacy, aristocracy, and royalty. 

While the tide of emigration was setting fast and strong into 
the fertile regions between the Yadkin and Catawba, from the 
north of Ireland, through Pennsylvania and Virginia, another tide 
was flowing from the Highlands of Scotland, and laading colonies of 
Presbyterian people along the Cape Fear River. Authentic records 
declare that the Scotch had found the sandy plains of Carolina, 
many years previous to the exile and emigration that succeeded 
the crushing of the hopes of the house of Stuart, in the fatal bat- 
tle of Culloden, in 1746. But in the year following that event, 
large companies of Highlanders seated themselves in Cumberland 
county ; and in a few years the Gaelic language was heard fami- 
liarly in Moore, Anson, Richmond, Robeson, Bladen, and Samp- 
son. Among these people and their children, the warm-hearted 
preacher and patriot, James Campbell, labored more than a quar- 
ter of a century ; and with them, that romantic character, Flora 
McDonald, passed a portion of her days. As many congre- 
gations were formed among these Highlanders, who were all 
Presbyterians, as that devoted, but solitary man of God, Mr. 
Campbell, covdd visit in the performance of the duties of his sacred 
oflSices. 

In the upper part of the State, between the Virginia and Caro- 
lina line, along the track traversed by the army of Cornwallis in 
the war of the Revolution, there were above twenty organized 
churches, with large congregations, and a great many preaching- 



PRESBYTERUN SETTLEMENTS IN N. CAROLINA. 81 

places. In Caswell county, McAden, the first minister that 
became permanently settled in North Carolina, had his dwelling 
and his congregations ; in Granville, and in Orange, along the Eno, 
the eloquent Pattillo taught impressively the wonder-working 
truths of the gospel of Christ ; in Guilford, was the school and 
seminary of Caldwell, the nursery of so many eminent men ; in 
Rowan, the elegant scholar, McCorkle, preached and taught ; in 
Iredell, Hall led his flock both to the sanctuary and the tents of 
war ; in Mecklenburg, Craighead cherished the spirit of indepen- 
dence which broke out in the declaration in Charlotte, May, 1775 ; 
and Balch, McCaule, and Alexander, fanned the flame of patriot- 
ism in their respective charges ; and Richardson, the foster uncle - 
of Davie, ministered in holy things. All of these, with the excep- 
tion of Craighead, who was removed by death, were at one time 
teaching the principles of the gospel independence, and inculcat- 
ing those truths that made their hearers choose liberty, at the 
hazard of life, rather than oppression with abundance ; all were 
eminent men, whose influence would have been felt in any 
generation ; all saw the war commence, and most of them saw 
its end, and not a man of them left his congregation, not a man 
of them faltered in his' patriotism, and two of them actually bore 
arms. Their congregations were famous during the struggle of 
the Revolution, for skirmishes, battles, loss of libraries, personal 
2:)rowess, individual courage, and heroic women. 

Governor Tryon complained of the resistance the crown officers 
struggled with in the upper country of Carolina, as the unprinci- 
pled turbulence of an ill-informed and unreasonable people ; he 
marched his army, and dispersed the Regulators, on the Alamance ; 
and then trusted to the solemn oath of the sufferers, swearing alle- 
giance to the lyng for their spared lives, for the peace of the coun- 
try, without noticing, and perhaps without perceiving the fact, 
that there was a strong moral feeling pervading this excited com- 
munity, that gave sanctity to an oath in the most unfavorable cir- 
cumstances. But the principles, that gave power to the oath, 
gave strength to the opposition. The governor left the State with- 
out understanding either the grievances of the people, or the deep 
workings of those principles that would outlive all oppression, sure 
of a triumph at last, though arrayed on the side of the few, and the 
poor, against the many, and the rich and the powerful. 

To trace out these principles and truths, destined by the wis- 
dom and goodness of Almighty God to get the mastery of the mis- 
rule of princes and men in authority, legitimate or elective, and 

6 



82 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ultimately to prevail throughout the world, triumphing over human 
depravity itself, vi^e must go back to the ancestry of these people, 
which, like the origin of the proudest house and longest line of 
crowned heads in Continental Europe — is from the dust — the 
poorest of a shrewd and enterprising people. The farthest limit, 
however, to which the research will be carried, is about the com- 
mencement of the seventeenth century ; and as we trace the pro- 
gress of events, and the developments of truth through the seven- 
teenth century, and more than half of the eighteenth, we shall look 
with less surprise than did Governor Tryon, on the resistance to 
oppression he experienced in Orange ; or than Governor Josiah 
Martin, on the declaration of independence, made at Charlotte ; — 
these events will seem to flow as streams from the enduring foun- 
tains of Truth and Liberty. 

All advancement in society has been the fruit of the religious 
principle ; and of all religious principles that have influenced 
society, those have been most effective that have most exalted 
God, and put the lowest estimate on the moral purity of human 
nature, and the means of human devising for the purification of 
our race. Those have done most for mankind that have first 
taught the creature to despair of himself, and next to trust in God : 
think less of property than life, and less of life than principles ; 
and to value the hopes and expectations of eternity immeasurably 
more than the things of time. With such principles men may be 
poor and unpolished, but can never be mean or undone ; they may 
be crushed, but never degraded. When Tryon returned to his 
palace in Newborn, after the bloodshed on the Alamance, he 
feasted. The people of Orange mourned under the oath of alle- 
giance exacted with terrible sanctions, and at the sight of the 
gallows-tree where their neighbors had died ignominiously. He 
was the minion of arbitrary power ; they were temporarily crushed. 
He was finally driven from the provinces of America, and they 
bequeathed to their children the inheritance of a beautiful land, 
with all that civil and religious freedom they ever desired. 

Looking back from the time of the bloodshed on the Alamance, 
or the Declaration of Lidependence in Charlotte, over a period of 
half a century, and then forward on the things^ that next succeeded 
in the space of another half century — the events of both which 
periods have passed away to the province of history, — and we have 
an exhibition of principles and men worthy of being written and 
read by all mankind, and through all lime. The wonderful pros- 
perity of the last quarter of a century but adds to the interest of 



PRESBYTERIAN SETTLEMENTS IN N. CAROLINA. 8:5 

the previous thrilling events. Could the leaders of the people 
that formed the population of which we speak, for one generation 
in Ireland, and for two in America that immediately succeeded the 
first large emigration — and in both lands, for that time, the real 
leaders were godly men — could these now rise from the graves to 
which they went down, some in peace, some in the sorrow of hope, 
and could they speak the language of earth, they would sing a 
Psalm of David louder than Merrill at the gallows — louder than 
they ever sang at a communion season, or revival, in Ireland or in 
Carolina — the beautiful sixty-sixth : " bless our God, ye people, 
and make the voice of his praise to be heard ; which holdcth our 
soul in life, and suifereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, O 
God, hast proved us ; and thou hast tried us as silver is tried. 
Thou broughtest us into the net, thou layedst affliction upon our 
loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads ; we went 
through fire, and through water ; but thou broughtest us out 
into a wealthy place. I will go into thy house with burnt offer- 
ings ; I will pay thee my vows ; which my lips have uttered and 
my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble." And would not 
their posterity in and around the grand Alleghanies shout with a 
voice of thunder and a heart of love, — " The Lord God omnipo- 
tent reigneth ! Alleluia ! Amen ! " 

For about two centuries and a half this race of people have 
had one set of moral, religious, and political principles, working 
out the noblest frame-work of society ; obedience to the just exer- 
cise of law ; independence of spirit ; a sense of moral obligations ; 
strict attendance on the worship of Almighty God ; the choice of 
their own religious teachers ; with the inextinguishable desire to 
exercise the same privilege with regard to their civil rulers, be- 
lieving that magistrates govern by the consent of the people, and 
by their choice. These principles, brought from Ireland, bore the 
same legitimate fruit in Carolina as in Ulster Province, whose 
boundaries travellers say can be recognized by the peace and 
pknty that reign within. Men will not be able fully to understand 
Carolina till they have opened the treasures of history, and drawn 
forth some few particulars respecting the origin and religious 
habits of the Scotch-Irish, and become familiar with their doings 
previous to the Revolution — during that painful struggle — and the 
succeeding years of prosperity ; and Carolina will be respected 
as she is known. 



84 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 

To find the origin of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlements in 
Virginia and North Carohna, we must go back to Scotland and 
Ireland in the times of Elizabeth and her successor, James. 
Elizabeth found Ireland a source of perpetual trouble. The 
complaints from the ill-fated island were numerous, and met 
little sympathy at the court of England ; right or wrong, Ireland 
must submit to English laws, and English governors, and Eng- 
lish ministers of religion ; and last, though not least in the esti- 
mation of the Irish, the English language was, under sanction of 
law, about to supplant the native tongue, and the last work of 
subjugation inflicted on that devoted people. 

The Reformation in England had been accomplished partly by 
~the piety and knowledge of the people at large under the guid- 
ance of the ministers of religion, and partly by the authority of 
the ^despotic Henry and his no less despotic daughter. The 
tyranny of the crown for once harmonized with the desires of 
that great body of the people so commonly overlooked, and even 
in this :case entirely unconsulted ; it pleased Henry to will what 
the people desired. In Ireland the Reformation was commenced 
by royal authority, and carried on as a state concern ; the ma- 
jority of the nobility and common people, as well as the ministers 
of religion, being entirely opposed to the designs of the sove- 
reign, their wishes were as little consulted as the desires of the 
people of England. The chief agent employed in this work was 
George Brown, consecrated Archbishop of Dublin, March 19th, 

1535. Immediately after his consecration he proceeded to Ire- 
land, and in conferei^ce with the principal nobility and clergy, 
required them to acknowledge the king's supremacy. They 
stoutly refused, withdrew from the metropolis, and sent messen- 
gers to Rome to apprise the Pope of the proceedings. In May, 

1536, a parliament was assembled for the purpose of taking 
measures for acknowledging the king's supremacy in religion, lie 
being considered head of the church in Eno-land and Ireland 



ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 85 

instead of the Pope of Rome. The principal argument of the 
archbishop was, " He that will not pass this act as I do, is no 
true subject to his majesty :" this prevailed, and the king was 
proclaimed head of the church, and all appeals to Rome forbidden. 
Commotions and bloodshed followed the order for the removal of 
the images, which was made in 1538; and as the people and 
clergy were strongly in their favor, the order was evaded. 

The first book printed in Ireland was the Liturgy, in 1551, by 
Humphi;ey Powell. In 1556 John Dale imported the Bible from 
England, and in less than two years sold seven thousand, being 
excited to make trial of the sale of Bibles by the avidity of the 
people to read the present sent over by the Archbishop of York, 
a Bible to each of the two cathedrals, to be kept in the centre of 
the choirs, open for public perusal. 

Henry found the Irish a source of vexation, and delivered to his 
children the inheritance of a restless, dissatisfied people. Eliza- 
beth pursued the policy of her father, with his vigor, and subdued 
Ireland to the laws, and ostensibly to the religious rites of Eng- 
land, and delivered it to James I., in 1603, pacified as she hoped, 
and as James fondly yet vainly imagined. The few privileges 
that were left to the Catholics were used by the priests and no- 
bility to promote rebellion, and aggravate James, who had opposed 
the Catholic forms more from political interest than religious 
scruples. A conspiracy formed by the Earls of Tyrconnell and 
Tyrone, of the province of Ulster, against the government of 
James, in the second year of his reign, in expectation of aid from 
the courts of France and Spain, was discovered in time to pre- 
vent its execution. The earls fled, and left their estates to the 
mercy of the king. Soon after, another rebellion or insurrection 
raised by O'Dogherty was crushed, its leader slain, and another 
large portion of the province reverted to the crown. In conse- 
quence of these and other forfeitures, nearly the whole of six 
counties in the province of Ulster, embracing about half a million 
of acres, were placed at the disposal of James. This province 
had been the chief seat of disturbances during the time of Eliza- 
beth, and was fast becoming desolate or barbarous. With the 
hopes of securing the peace of this hitherto the most turbulent 
part of his kingdom, James determined to introduce colonies 
from England and Scotland, that by disseminating the Reformed 
faith he might promote the loyalty of Ireland. In the fulfilment 
of this design he planted those colonies from which, more than 
century afterwards, those emigrations sprung, by which weste rn. 



86 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Virginia and the Carolinas were in a great measure peopled. 
Tlie frequent attempts made, in the reign of Ehzabeth, to plant 
colonies of English and Scotch in Ireland, in Xhe hope that those 
doctrines of the Reformation, as odious to the crown as the peo- 
ple that professed them, might mould the Irish mind and heart to 
greater attachment to the English crown, had been conducted on 
a small scale, and attended with little success. The project of 
James was grand and attractive, and in its progress to complete 
success formed a race of men, law-loving, law-abiding, loyal, en-, 
terprising freemen, whose thoughts and principles have had no 
less influence in moulding the American mind, than their children 
in making the wilderness to blossom as the rose. 

Sir Arthur Chichester, on whom the king had conferred a 
considerable estate in Antrim, was appointed Lord deputy of 
the kingdom, in February, 1605 ; and by his sound judgment, 
sense of religion, and experience in the affairs of men, con- 
tributed not a little to the success of the royal enterprise. He 
had six counties in Ulster carefully surveyed, and the lands divided 
into sections of different magnitudes, some of two thousand acres, 
some of fifteen hundred, and some of a thousand. These he 
allotted to different kinds of persons : first, British undertakers, 
who voluntarily engaged in the enterprise ; second. Servitors of 
the crown, consisting of civil and military officers ; third. Natives 
whom he hoped to render loyal subjects. The occupants of the 
largest portions of land were bound, within four years, to build a 
castle and bawn, that is, a walled enclosure, with towers at the 
angles, within which was placed the cattle, — and to plant on their 
estates forty-eight able-bodied men, eighteen years old or upwards, 
of English or Scottish descent. Those who occupied the second 
class were obliged, within two years, to build a strong stone or 
brick house, and bawn ; and both were required to plant a propor- 
tionable number of English or Scottish families on their posses- 
sions, and to have their houses furnished with a sufficiency of 
arms. 

Under these and various other regulations, the escheated lands 
were disposed of to one hundred and four English and Scottish 
Undertakers, fifty-six servitors, and two hundred and eighty-six 
natives ; these gave bonds to the State for the fulfilment of their 
covenants, and were required to render an annual account of their 
progress. Nearly the whole of the county of Colcraine was al- 
lotted to the corporation of the city of London, on condition of 
their building and fortifying the cities of Londonderry and Cole- 



ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 87 

raine, and otherwise expending twenty thousand pounds on the 
plantations ; and the county is now called Londonderry, in allu- 
sion to that circumatance. In 1610, the lands began to be gene- 
rally occupied. The northeastern parts of the province were oc- 
cupied principally by emigrants from Scotland, on account of the 
proximity of the places, and the hardy enterprise of the people ; 
the southern and western parts were settled by the English. 
Great difficulties attended the settlement, arising principally from 
the plundering incursions of the irreclaimable natives. A con- 
temporary writer sa3^s : " Sir Toby Canfield's people are driven 
every night to lay up all his cattle, as it were, in ward ; and do he 
and his wdiat they can, the wolfe and wood-kerne, within culiver 
shot of his fort, have often times a share. Sir John King and Sir 
Henry Harrington, Avithin half a mile of Dublin, do the like, for 
those forenamed enemies do every night survey the fields to the 
very walls of Dublin." The country had growai wild during the 
troubles of the past reign, and was covered with woods and 
marshes that affected the healthiness of the climate ; this, together 
with the difficulties arising from the opposition of the native Irish, 
and the wild beasts that abounded in the desolations, greatly re- 
tarded the emigrations, and gave a peculiar cast to the emigrants. 

The Reverend Andrew Stewart, minister of Donaghadee from 
1645 to 1671, son of Rev. Andrew Stewart, who was settled min- 
ister of Donegore in the year 1627, wrote " A short account of the 
Church of Christ as it tvas amongst the Irish at first : — among 
and after the English entered : — and after the entry of the Scots" 
He says, " of the English not many came over, for it is to be ob- 
served that, being a great deal more tenderly bred at home in 
England, and entertained in better quarters than they could find in 
Ireland, they were unwilling to flock thither, except to good land, 
such as they had before at home, or to good cities where they 
might trade ; both of which, in those days, were scarce enough 
here. Besides that the marshiness and fogginess of this island 
were still found unwholesome to English bodies." He also adds : 
"the king had a natural love to have Ireland planted with Scots, as 
being, besides their loyalty, of a middle temper, between the 
English tender and the Irish rude breeding, and a great deal more 
likely to adventure to plant Ulster." 

He thus describes the progress of the plantation : — " The Lon- 
doners have in the Lagan a great interest, and built a city called 
Londonderry, planted with English. Coleraine also is builded by 
them ; both of them seaports, though Derry be botli the more 



88 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

commodious and famous. Sir Hugh Clotworthy obtains the lands 
of Antrim, both fruitful and good, and invites thither several of 
the English, very good men, the Ellises, Leslies, Langfords, and 
others. Chichester, a worthy man, has an estate given him in the 
county of Antrim, where he improves his interest, builds the 
prospering mart of Belfast, and confirms his interest in Carrick- 
fergus, and builds a stately palace there. Conway has an estate 
given him in the county of Antrim, and builds a town afterwards 
called Lisnegarvay, and this was planted with a colony of the 
English also. Moses Hill had woodlands given him, which being 
thereafter demolished, left a fair and beautiful country, when a 
late heir of the Hills built Hillsborough. All these lands and 
more were given to the English gentlemen, worthy persons, who 
afterwards increased, and made noble and loyal families in places 
where had been nothing but robbing, treason and rebellion." 

" Of the Scots nation there was a family of the Balfours, of the 
Forbesses, of the Grahames, two of the Stewarts, and not a few 
of the Hamiltons. The Macdonnells founded the earldom of 
Antrim by King James's gift, — the Hamiltons the earldom of Stra- 
bane and Clanbrassil, and there were besides several knights of 
that name. Sir Frederick, Sir George, Sir Francis, Sir Charles his 
son, and Sir Hans, all Hamiltons ; for they prospered above all 
others in this country, after tlie first admittance of the Scots 
into it." 

Con O'Neill, who possessed great extent of lands in Down and 
Antrim, being engaged in a rebellion, was apprehended and laid 
in the king's castle ; the Deputy intending to have him suifer 
capitally, expecting to gain a large portion of his lands, which fell 
to the king. His wife, indignant that her husband should be con- 
fined and appointed to an ignominious death, goes over to Scotland 
and lays her claim before Hugh Montgomery of Broadstone, pro- 
mising him, if he would get her husband's pardon from the king, 
to be content with a third part of their estate, and cheerfully to 
yield two-thirds to him under the king's grant. Montgomery en- 
tered into the scheme, and having a boat in readiness, and his wife 
carrying to him, in his prison, ropes in two cheeses, O'Neill ef- 
fected his escape to Scotland. Montgomery then applied to Mr. 
James Hamilton, who had relinquished his fellowship in Dublin 
College, and was in high favor at the English court, to assist him 
in obtaining a pardon for O'Neill from the king, promising him 
half of his two parts of the estates. The pardon was obtained ; 
and grants were issued from the king to each of these gentlemen 



ORIGIN OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 89 

for a third part of O'Neill's estates. Both were made knights : 
but as Montgomery was an inheritor under the king in Scotland, 
and his vassal, he obtained the precedency. Hamilton, however, 
so managed the matter as to obtain the better share in the pos- 
sessions. 

Mr. Stewart says, — " These two knights, having received their 
lands, were shortly after made lords — Montgomery of Ards, and 
Hamilton of Claneboy. But land without inliabitants is a burden 
without relief. The Irish were gone, the ground was desolate, 
rent must be paid to the king, tenants were none to pay them. 
Therefore the lords, having a good bargain themselves, make some 
of their friends sharers, as freeholders under them. Thus came 
several farmers under Mr. Montgomery, gentlemen from Scot- 
land, and of the names of the Shaws, Calderwoods, Boyds, 
and of the Keiths from the north. And some foundations are 
laid for towns and incorporations, as Newton, Donaghedee, Com- 
ber, Old and New Grey Abbey. Many Hamiltons also followed 
Sir James, especially his own brethren, all of them worthy men ; 
and other farmers, as the Maxwells, Rosses, Barclays, Moores, 
Bayleys, and others, whose posterit}'^ hold good to this day. He 
also founded -towns and incorporations, viz., Bangor, Holywood, 
and Killileagh, where he built a strong castle, and Ballywalter. 
These foundations being laid, the Scots came hither apace, and 
became tenants willingly, and sub-tenants to their countrymen 
(whose manner and way they knew), so that in a short time the 
country began again to be inhaljited." 

The progress of the plantation was slow ; and by order of the 
Crown, frequent inquiries were made into its advancement. The 
last was made in 1618 ; by that it appeared that one hundred cas- 
tles, with bawns, had been built ; nineteen castles without bawns ; 
forty-two bawns without castles or houses ; and one thousand eight 
hundred and ninety-seven dwelling houses of stone and timber ; 
and about eight thousand men of English and Scottish birth, able 
to bear arms, were settled in the country. The appointment of Sir 
Arthur Chichester, as Deputy, was made in 1605 ; the survey was 
speedily commenced : the lands began to be generally occupied, 
in 1610, by the emigrants from Scotland and England; and by 
1618, against all the opposition of the native Irish, and the unfa- 
vorable circumstances of the country, a population, with some eight 
thousand fighting men, were gathered upon the escheated lands. 

The race of Scotchmen that emigrated to Ireland, retaining the 
characteristic traits of their native stock, borrowed some things 



90 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

from their neighbors, and were fashioned, in some measure, by the 
moulding influences of the chmate and country. In contra-distinc- 
tion from the native Irish, they called themselves Scotch ; and to 
distinguish them from natives of Scotland, their descendants have 
received the name of Scotch-Irish. This name is provincial, and 
more used in America than elsewhere, and is applied to the Pro- 
testant emigrants from the north of Ireland, and their descendants. 
The history of this people from this period, 1618, till the emigra- 
tion to America, which commenced with a discernible current 
about a century after the immigration from Scotland, is found in 
the " History of Religious Principles and Events in Ulster Pro- 
vince." Their religious principles swayed their political opinions ; 
and in maintaining their forms of worship, and their creed, they 
learned the rudiments of republicanism before they emigrated to 
America. They demanded, and exercised, the privilege of choos- 
ing their ministers and spiritual directors, in opposition to all 
efforts to make the choice and support of the clergy a state, or 
governmental concern. In defence of this they suffered fines and 
imprisonment and banishment, and took up arms at last, and, victo- 
rious in the contest, they established the Prince of Nassau upon 
the throne, and gave the Protestant succession to England. 

Emigrating to America, they maintained, in all the provinces 
where they settled, the right of all men to choose their own reli- 
gious teachers, and to support them in the way each society of 
Christians might choose, irrespective of the laws of England or 
the provinces, — and also to use what forms of worship they might 
judge expedient and proper. From maintaining the rights of con- 
science in both hemispheres, and claiming to be governed by the 
laws under legitimate sovereigns in Europe, they came in America 
to demand the same extended rights in politics as in conscience ; 
that rulers should be chosen by the people to be governed, and 
should exercise their authority according to the laws the people 
approved. In Europe they contended for a limited monarchy 
through all the troubles of the seventeenth century ; in America, 
their descendants defining what a limited monarchy meant, found 
it to signify rulers chosen by the people for a limited time, and 
with limited powers ; and declared themselves independent of the 
British crown. 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. 91 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN IRELAND FROM THE TIME OF THE 
EMIGRATION FROM SCOTLAND, TO THE FIRST EFFORT TO EMI- 
GRATE TO AMERICA IN 1631. 

The State of Religion among the emigrants was peculiar, though 
not strange or unexpected, in the circumstances. Many of the large 
landholders, and also the proprietors of smaller sections, were gentle- 
men in the Scotch acceptation of the word, men of good birth, of good 
manners, of some education and property. Some of them appear 
to have been truly religious. Among the tenantry and sub-tenantry, 
were also many of sound principles and correct lives, — and some 
were truly pious. But the circumstances of the emigration were 
such as to hold out greater inducements to the restless than to 
the sedate, to those who were more anxious about temporal, than 
to those who were most engaged about spiritual concerns ; and 
consequently the province was occupied by settlers, who were 
willing enough to receive and respect ministers, who were sent to 
them, but were not characterized by any great desire to obtain 
either faithful ministers, who would- warn them of their sins, or 
careless ones who would be content with their tithes. Of the 
latter class they had enough in Ireland, as the whole country had 
been divided into parishes, which were expected to support a 
minister of the Established Cluirch of England. The former class 
were a terror unto them, as they always are to those not fully 
intent upon their own salvation. Stewart draws a dark picture of 
the people soon after their emigration ; it is probably over colored, 
as the author was not conversant with the settling of colonies ; the 
only other one of which he had much knowledge, the Puritans that 
removed first to Holland, and then to New England, being a soli- 
tary example of excellence. " Most of the people were all void of 
godliness, who seemed rather to flee from God in their enterprise, 
than to follow their own mercy. Yet God followed them when 
they fled from him. Albeit, at first, it must be remembered, that, 
as they cared little for any church, so God seemed to care as little 
for them. For these strangers were no better entertained (i. e., by 
the clergy they found in Ireland, or that part of it where they were) 



92 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

than by the rehcs of popery, served up m a ceremonial service of 
God under a sort of antichristian hierarchy, and committed to the 
care of careless men, who were only zealous to call for their gain 
from their quarter. Thus, on all hands, atheism increased, and 
disregard of God, iniquity abounded with contention, fighting, 
murder, adultery, &c., as among a people who, as they had nothing 
within them to overawe them, so their ministers' example (i. e., 
those they found in Ireland) was worse than nothing. And veril}^, 
at this time the whole body of this people seemed ripe for the 
manifestation either of God's judgment, or God's mercy." 

The situation of the emigrants, in matters pertaining to religion, 
was so different from the condition of the congregations in Scot- 
land, that with the more grave and religious in the mother country, 
it became a matter of abhorrence ; — so much so, that ^^ going to 
IrelancV was looked upon as a thing to be deplored, as going 
away from the privileges and enjoyments of religion. It became 
a proverb expressive of disdain, " Ireland xoill be your latter end?"" 
Mr. Blair said of their condition in religious things — " Although 
amongst those whom divine providence did send to Ireland, there 
were several persons eminent for birth, education and parts, yet 
the most part was such as either poverty, scandalous lives, or at 
the best, adventurous seeking of better accommodation had forced 
thither ; so that the security and thriving of religion was little seen 
to by these adventurers, and the preachers were generally of the 
same complexion with the people." This condition of the emi- 
grants became at length a matter of deep sympathy and Christian 
benevolence — and faithful ministers of the gospel were encouraged 
to take their abode in Ireland, and expend their strength in labors 
which received a rich blessing from on high. Between the years 
1613 and 1626, seven preachers went over to Ireland, whose exer- 
tions for the advancement of religion were blessed to such an emi- 
nent degree, that others were excited to follow them ; and in a few 
years the church in Ireland became as famous for a spirit of 
revival, as the emigration had been for indifference to all religious 
concerns. 

The first, in point of time, was Edward Brice, M.A., who, on 
account of his strenuous opposition to all efforts to introduce Epis- 
copacy into Scotland, was compelled to leave his parish, Drymen 
in Stirlingshire ; turning his attention to Ireland, he directed his 
steps to Broad Island in County Antrim, where an old acquaint- 
ance had settled in 1609. He began to exercise his ministry there 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. 93 

most on the life of Christ in the heart, and the hght of His spirit 
and word on the mind ; that being his own continual exercise.'' 
The wrath of man, in his troubles at home in Scotland, was over- 
ruled of God to bring him to preach Christ to the desolate ; his 
being driven from his parish, was the leading of others to the 
Kingdom of God. He died in 1636, aged 67 years. 

The second was John Ridge, a native of England. He had 
been admitted to the order of Deacon by thd Bishop of Oxford ; 
but feeling no freedom to exercise his ministry in England, on 
account of the requisitions made of the clergy, he removed to 
Ireland, and on presentation of Lord Chichester, was admitted to 
the vicarage of Antrim in July, 1619, Blair styles him — "the 
judicious and gracious Minister of Antrim." Livingston says of 
him : " he used not to have many points in his sermon ; but he 
so enlarged those he had, that it was scarcely possible for any 
hearer to forget his preaching. He was a great urgcr of charita- 
ble works, and a very humble man." After having witnessed the 
power of religion in an uncommon degree in Antrim, as will be 
noticed more particularly in another place, when the great revival 
comes up for narration, he died about the year 1637. 

The third was Mr. Hubbard, a Puritan minister from England. 
He was Episcopally ordained ; but having forsaken the commun- 
ion of the Established Church, and taken charge of a non-con- 
forming congregation, at Southwark, London, he was greatly 
oppressed by the intolerant measures of the times, and with his 
people resolved on removing to Ireland, in hopes of greater 
freedom in religion. Lord Chichester being informed of their in- 
tention, invited them to Carrickfergus ; they were peaceably 
settled there about the year 1621. Blair speaks of him as "an 
able and gracious man." He soon died ; but his congregation 
shared largely in the divine blessing that so unexpectedly was 
poured upon Ulster county. 

The fourth was James Glendenning, whose labors were pecu- 
liarly blessed, a native of Scotland, educated at St. Andrews, and 
early in life removing to Scotland, he succeeded Mr. Hubbard at 
Carrickfergus. The theatre of his greatest usefulness was Old- 
stone, near Antrim, where commenced, under his preaching, the 
Revival that spread over the province, and laid the foundation of 
the Irish Presbyterian Church. Mr. Glendenning was not 
esteemed as a man of much ability or learning ; but his preach- 
ing being full of life and earnestness w^as much admired, and 
greatly blessed of God. He left Ireland in a few years. 



94 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The fifth was Robert Cunningham. Having been chaplain to 
the Earl of Buccleugh, in Holland, on the return of the troops to 
Scotland he went to Ireland, and became curate of Holywood and 
Craigavad in County Down. His name does not appear upon the 
roll as curate till 1622, though he was in Ireland some years pre- 
vious to that time. Livingston says of him : "To my discerning 
he was the one man who most resembled the meekness of Jesus 
Christ, in all his carriage, that ever I saw, and was so far reve- 
renced, even by the wicked, that he was often troubled with that 
scripture — ' woe to you when all men speak well of you.' " He 
died in Scotland, March 29th, 1637, having witnessed, in an extra- 
ordinary manner, the power of the gospel. 

The sixth was Robert Blair, He had been professor in the 
College of Glasgow, but was induced to leave the situation on 
account of the measures used by Dr. Cameron to introduce Pre- 
lacy ; being invited by Lord Claneboy (James Hamilton), he went 
to Ireland in May, 1623, and was settled in Bangor, in County 
Down. On his first landing in Ireland, his prejudices against the 
country v/ere greatly increased by what he saw. Lord Claneboy 
interested himself very much in removing his difficulties, and Mr. 
Gibson, the first Protestant Dean of Down, then sick, invited 
him to preach in Bangor, and afterwards united with the congi-ega- 
tion in urging him to make that liis abode. Mr. Blair, in his 
narrative, says : Mr. Gibson " condemned Episcopacy more 
strongly than I durst to ; he charged me in the name of Christ, as 
I expected a blessing on my ministry, not to leave that good way 
wherein I had begun to walk ; and then drawing my head towards 
his bosom, with both arms, he laid his hands on my head, and 
blessed me." 

On his first interview he frankly told Bishop Echlin his objec- 
tions to Prelacy. Echlin promised to impose no conditions on him, 
but said he must ordain him, or they could not answer the laws of 
the land. Blair objected to the performance of the ordination by 
him alone. The bishop finally agreed to associate Mr. Cunning- 
ham and the neighboring ministers with him in the ordination : and 
the service was performed July 10th, 1623. "Whatever you ac- 
count of Episcopacy, yet I know you account a presbytery to have 
a divine warrant," said the Ijishop to him. " Will you not receive 
ordination from Mr. Cunningliam and the adjacent brethren, and 
let me come in among ihcin in no other relation llian a pres- 
byter?" 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. 95 

Livingston says of Blair, — " he was a man of a notable consti- 
tution both of body and mind ; of a majestic, awful, yet affable and 
amiable countenance and carriage, learned, of strong parts, deep 
inventions, and solid judgment. He seldom ever wanted assurance 
of his salvation. He spent many days and nights in prayer alone, 
and with others, and was vouchsafed great intimacy with God." 

The seventh was James Hamilton, nephew to Lord Claneboy 
(James Hamilton, who* obtained a part of O'Neill's estate), whom 
Mr. Blair found in the employ of his uncle, as steward, or agent. 
Perceiving his piety, and knowing his education, he invited him to 
enter the ministry. "I invited . him," says Mr. Blaii", "to preach 
in my pulpit, in his uncle's hearing, who till then knew nothing of 
this matter. We were afraid the visco\mt would not part with so 
faithful a servant. But he, having once heard his nephew, did put 
more respect on him than before." Mr. Hamilton was ordained 
by Bishop Echlin in the year 1625. 

These seven brethren labored with the spirit of missionaries of 
the cross, and triumphing over all difficulties, were favored with 
an extraordinary measure of success. Their influence was first 
seen in a reformation of manners and a devout attention to religion ; 
and led, under the blessing of God, to a revival of religion, which 
spread over a large part of the counties of Down and Antrim, and 
is one of the most signal on record in the Protestant Church. This 
revival first appeared under the preaching of the weakest of the 
brethren, Mr. Glendenning. Mr. Stewart, in his narrative, thus 
relates the matter : " Mr. Blair, coming over from Bangor to Car- 
rickfergus on some business, and occasionally hearing Mr. Glen- 
denning preach, perceived some sparkles of good inclination in him, 
yet found him not solid but weak, and not fitted for a public place, 
and among the English. On which Mr. Blair did call him, and' 
using freedom with him, advised him to go to some place in the 
country among his countrymen ; whereupon he went to Oldstone 
(near the town of Antrim), and was there placed. He was a man 
who could never have been chosen by a wise assembly of minis- 
ters, nor sent to begin a reformation in this land. For he was 
little better than distracted, — yea afterwards did actually become 
so." 

"At Oldstone God made use of him to awaken the consciences 
of a lewd people thereabouts. For seeing the great lewdness and 
ungodly sinfulness of the people, he preached nothing to them but 
law, wr^th, and the terrors of God for sin. And indeed for nothing 
else was he fitted, for hardly could he preach any other thing." 



96 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

But beliold the success ! For tlie hearers finding themselves con- 
demned by the mouth of God speaking in liis work, fell into such 
anxiety and terror of conscience, that they looked on themselves as 
altogether lost and damned ; and this work appeared not in one 
single person or two, but multitudes were brought to understand 
their way, and to cry out, ' Men and brethren, what shall we do to 
be saved V I have seen them myself stricken into a swoon with a 
word ; yea, a dozen in one day carried out of doors as dead, — so 
marvellous was the power of God, smiting their hearts for sin, 
condemning and killing. And these were none of the weaker sex 
or spirit, but indeed some of the boldest spirits, who formerly 
feared not, with their swords, to put a whole market town 
in a fray ; — yea, in defence of their stubbornness cared not 
to lie in prison and in the stocks, — and being incorrigible, 
were as ready to do the like next day. I have heard one 
of them, then a mighty strong man, now a mighty Christian, say, 
that his end in coming to church was to consult with his compa- 
nions how to work some mischief. And yet at one of those 
sermons was he *so catched, that he was fully subdued. But why 
do I speak of him ? we knew, and yet know multitudes of such 
men, who sinned, and still gloried in it, because they feared no 
man, yet are now patterns of sobriety, fearing to sin, because they 
fear God." 

" And this spread througli the country to admiration, especially 
about that river, commonly called the Six Mile Water, for there 
this work began at first. At this time of tlie people's gathering to 
Christ, it pleased the Lord to visit mercifully the honorable family 
in Antrim, so as Sir John Clotw^orthy, and my Lady his mother, 
and his own precious Lady, did shine in an eminent manner in re- 
ceiving the gospel and offering themselves to the Lord, whose 
example instantly other gentlemen followed, such as Captain Nor- 
ton and others, of whom the gospel made a clear and cleanly con- 
quest." 

This religious excitement spreading wide, continued for a con- 
siderable length of time ; the demand for the pure word of the 
gospel was unceasing ; and the labors of the ministers unremitting. 
The mercy of the gospel was welcomed by the hearts wounded 
for sin and by sin ; and great numbers were hopefully awakened 
and converted to God. Among other things that followed this re- 
vival was tlie Monthly Meeting at Antrim, the effects of which 
were great and happy. Its origin is thus described by Stewart and 
Blair :— 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. 97 

" There was a man in the parish of Oldstone, called Hugh 
Campbell, who had fled from Scotland ; God caught him in Ireland, 
and made him an eminent and exemplary Christian until this day. 
He was a gentleman of the house of Duckethall. After this man 
was healed of the wound given to his soul by the Almighty, he 
became very refreshful to others who had less learning and judg- 
ment than himself. He therefore invited some of his honest 
neighbors, who fought the same fight of faith, to meet him at his 
house on the last Friday of every month ; where and when, be- 
ginning with a few, they spent their time in prayer, mutual edifi- 
cation, and conference, on what they found within them : nothing 
like the superficial superfluous meetings of some cold-hearted pro- 
fessors, who afterwards made this work a snare to many. But 
these new beginners were more filled with heart exercises than 
head notions, and with fervent prayer rather than conceity notions 
to fill the head. As these truly increased, so did this meeting for 
private edification increase too ; and still at Hugh Campbell's 
house, on the last Friday of the month. At last they grew so nu- 
merous that the ministers who had begotten them again to Christ, 
thought fit that some of them should be still with them, to prevent 
what hurt might follow." This took place in the year 1626. 
Here Mr. Stewart's narrative ends abruptly. Mr. Blair says : — 
" Mr. John Ridge, the judicious and gracious minister of Antrim, 
perceiving many people, both sides of the Six Mile Water, awak- 
ened out of their security, made an overture that a monthly meet- 
ing might be set up at Antrim, which was within a mile of Oldstone, 
and lay centrical for the awakened persons to resort to, and he 
invited Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Hamilton, and myself, to take part 
in that work, who were all glad of the motion, and heartily em- 
braced it." 

As the revival progressed, the news of it reached Scotland, 
and called the attention of the whole Christian community to Ire- 
land ; and in consequence, some very able ministers went over to 
take part in the work, and were blessed of God in being exten- 
sively useful in laying the foundation of the Irish Presbyterian 
Church. In addition to the seven who went previous to the revival, 
tlie following six, who entered the field during the great excitement, 
are worthy of particular notice. 

The first, Josias Welch, son of John Welch, of Ayr, and 

grandson of John Knox, the Reformer, by his third daughter,. 

Elizabeth. Having finished his education at Geneva, he filled a 

Professor's chair in Glasgow, till the movements of Dr. Cameron 

7 



98 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

for prelacy, which drove Mr. Blair from college, induced him also 
to surrender his office. At Mr. Blair's earnest instigation he went 
to Ireland in 1626, and like that good man, found that per- 
secution, as in the days of the death of Stephen, sometimes 
drives men into that part of the Lord's vineyard where they reap 
the richest harvest for eternal life. He preached for a time 
at Oldstone, where the excitement began ; and having been or- 
dained by his kinsman Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, in Donegal, 
was soon after settled at Temple Patrick, and, Livingston says, 
had many seals to his ministry. He died on Monday, June 23d, 
1634. 

The second that came was Andrew Stewart, wdio was settled 
as minister of Donegore, adjoining Temple Patrick and Antrim. 
Blair styles him " a learned gentleman, and fervent in spirit, and a 
very successful minister of the word of God." He died in July, 
1634. 

The third was George Dunbar. He had been minister of Ayr, 
and was twice ejected on account of his nonconformity, and for a 
time confined in Blackness, and then banished. On the arrival of 
the news of his second ejectment, he turned to his wife and said : 
" Wife, get the creels read}^ again ;" that is, the osier baskets in 
which he had carried his children in his first remove. He was 
driven to Ireland to be blessed in the Lord's vineyard. Being set- 
tled at Lama, county Antrim, his congregation participated in the 
great revival ; and among the subjects was the singular case of a 
deaf and dumb person, Andrew Brown, who, by his reformed life 
and expressions of piety, prevailed on the ministers, who met at 
Antrim, in their monthly meetings, to admit him to the Lord's 
table. A singular, and almost solitary, case of a mute professing 
spiritual religion, previous to the recent successful efforts at giving 
them instruction. 

The fourth was Henry Colwort, a native of England, ordain- 
ed by Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, on the 4lh of May, 1629, and 
settled at Oldstone, June, 1630. Blair says, " this able minister 
was a blessing to that people ;" and Livingston speaks of him as 
one " who very pertinently cited much S*: j ipture in his sermons, 
and frequently urged fasting and prayer." 

The fifth was John Livingston. Being silenced by Spotis- 
wood. Archbishop of St. Andrews, in the year 1627, and being 
prevented by the bishops from obtaining a settlement, though invi- 
tations came to him from various quarters, he at length yielded to 
the storm, and followinff the hand of the Lord, went to Ireland, 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. 99 

August, 1630, and was settled in Killinchy, in county Down. He 
received ordination from Knox, in the same manner Blair had done, 
some years previously. In the month of June preceding his 
removal to Ireland, he had, in company with Mr. Robert Blair, 
assisted at the famous meeting in the Kirk of Shotts, which re- 
sulted in the hopeful conversion of so large a company. Under 
his sermon on Monday, which he delivered after hours of medita- 
tion and private prayer, the whole audience seemed under the con- 
victing power of the word, and as many ?i&five hundred, of those 
that day impressed, afterwards professed faith in Christ. Some 
say that, reckoning up all that from that day's preaching became 
hopefully religious, the number would be swelled to seven hun- 
dred ; as the audience was collected from a great distance, as 
usual on Scotch communion days, many of the hopeful converts 
were from distant congregations, and some who dated their reli- 
gious impressions from that day, did not profess religion for a 
length of time. 

The great excitement produced at this meeting rendered Mr. 
Blair and Mr, Livingston more obnoxious than ever to the Pre- 
lates, who, under pretence of their having transgressed the order 
of the Church and the government, prevailed on Bishop Echlin, in 
Ireland, in September, 1631, to suspend both these men from their 
ministerial functions. No service done to God, in the conversion 
of men, could satisfy these Prelates for nonconformity to their es- 
tablished rules of Church government. 

Two others were extensively useful, though not settled in con- 
gregations. One was John McClelland, of whom Livingston 
•says, — " he was first school-master at Newton- Ards in Ireland, 
where he bred several hopeful youths for the college. Being first 
tried and approved by the honest ministers in the county of Down, 
he often preached in their churches. He Avas a most straight and 
zealous man ; he knew not what it was to be afraid of man in 
the cause of God ; and was early acquainted with God and his 
ways." 

The other was John Semple. Aocording to the mode of com- 
mencing public worship, he, as clerk or precentor, was, as custom- 
ary, singing a psalm before the minister came in that was to 
preach. Thinking the minister tarried long, he felt an impulse to 
speak something to the psalm he was singing ; and, as he said, — 
" he was carried out with great liberty." The ministers, looking 
upon his case as peculiar, made private trials of his capability to 
teach, and gave him license " to exercise his gifts in private houses 

i- of C. 



lOO SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

and families." With this hberty he went through the country 
with great acceptance ; the people flocked to hear him, filling 
dwelling-houses and barns ; and to very many he was the happy 
instrument of God in their conversion. 

These ministers were powerful auxiharies in extending the re- 
vival in Ulster. The churches gathered by them multiplied and 
extended, and became a large body ; and from them were the 
emigrants whose descendants are found in Pennsylvania, western 
Virginia, North and South Carolina, in large bodies, and also in 
smaller companies scattered over the southern and western portions 
of the United States. 

The monthly meeting set up at Oldstone by Mr. Campbell, being 
altogether in the hands of the inexperienced, was likely to lead to 
the evils that result from zeal without knowledge. By the prudent 
exertions of Mr. Ridge of Antrim, a monthly meeting of ministers 
was formed, which took the place of the other, prevented the 
dreaded evils, and became instrumental of great good to the com- 
munity. The exercises of those meetings were very similar to the 
services performed at the communion seasons in Scotland, and to 
the communion seasons and four day meetings held by the Pres- 
byterians in Virginia and the Carolinas, and indeed in the whole 
South and West. People flocked to them in crowds, and embraced 
the opportunity of conversation with their minister, and each 
other, on the great subjects of Religion ; and the minister took the 
opportunity of communicating instructions on important subjects, 
and for the exercise of necessary discipline, in which unity of 
purpose and action was required. 

Mr. Brice of Broad Island, and Mr. Dunbar, who was for a time 
his assistant, aud afterwards settled at Oldstone, were called to 
the exercise of prudence and judgment in another way. In Broad 
Island and the adjacent parish of Oldstone, there were several 
persons violently affected during public worship with hard breath- 
ings and convvilsions of the body. These new and strange exer- 
cises they considered as evidences of the work of the Spirit. 
Messrs. Brice and Dunbar examined them carefully on this matter, 
and on conferring with them about their state of mind and heart, 
could not find that these bodily exercises either produced or ac- 
companied any discovery of their sinfulness before God, nor any 
clear views of Christ, or desires after him. They therefore con- 
sidered the exercises to be either an imposition or a delusion. 
The ministerial brethren were called together upon the matter ; 
and after a patient examination they decided against the opinion 



RELIGION IN IRELAND PREVIOUS TO EMIGRATION. lOl 

that the exercises were either a work of the Spirit or any evidence 
of its presence, Mr. Blair says — "When we came and conferred 
with them, we perceived it to be a mere delusion and cheat of the 
destroyer, to slander and disgrace the work of God." The putting 
down these irregularities did not hinder the progress of the good 
work, but rather gave confidence both to preachers and people. 
Instead of permitting the passions and feelings of their hearers to 
lead the pastors, or the heat of excitement to blind their eyes, 
they submitted all things in religion to the test of Scripture, and 
by its authority they chose to abide. This was their rule in 
church government, ordination and doctrine : and more than two 
centuries in Europe, and more than a century in America, has 
tested and proved the prudence and propriety of their decisions. 

The monthly meeting at Antrim, besides being a source of rich 
encouragement and high enjoyment to the people, became to the 
ministers a source of great consolation. In them they took coun- 
sel and gave advice, and comforted and exhorted each other ; and, 
until presbyteries were formed, it was their grand council. It 
must be borne in mind, that the whole country was under the 
Established Church of England ; and in the space occupied 
by these laborers were some twenty ministers of the Established 
Church, who took no interest in the revival, but rather set them- 
selves against it, and were opposed to these ministers preaching in 
their parish bounds. Bishop Echlin, at first favorable to these 
ministers, soon became their bitter enemy : while Knox of Raphoe 
continued their friend to the last. Mr. Livingston says that the 
brethren that formed this meeting lived in the greatest harmony, 
each preferring the other in love. 



102 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER VIL 

THE EAGLE WING OR FIRST ATTEMPT AT EMIGRATION FROM 

IRELAND TO AMERICA, 1636. 

In the spring of the year 1631, the presbyterians of Ulster. 
wearied out by the intolerance of Charles I., and Archbishop 
Laud, and the consequent exactions of the ministers of the crown, 
particularly the Lord Deputy Wentworth, afterwards Earl of 
Stafford, by which their cup of bitterness was made to overflow, 
turned their eyes to the new settlements in the wilds of America. 
The Puritans of England, who were contending and suffering for 
the same rights of conscience, had planted colonies in Massachu- 
setts, which cheered them with the expectation of a refuge from 
the ills they could neither be freed from, nor endure, in their native 
land. The flourishing colony had been planted at Salem, in the 
year 1628, and had been even more successful than Plymouth. 
These prosperous efforts to secure the enjoyment of liberty of 
conscience, turned the attention of the distressed congregations of 
Ireland to seek, in the deeper solitudes of distant America, what 
had been promised, and sought for in vain, in depopulated Ireland ; 
or enjoyed only while they reclaimd the desolations of the pre- 
vious rebellion. 

The ministers that had come over from Scotland, whose names 
have been enumerated, had not attempted to form a Presbytery. 
The whole country had been laid off into parishes and bishoprics 
of the Church of England ; and as the emigrants from England 
or Scotland found their residences, they were consequently in- 
cluded in some parish, and the ministers that came over to preach 
to them were admitted to occupy parish churches, and enjoy their 
own forms and ceremonies. Archbishop Usher was most mild 
and tolerant in his views of church order and government ; 
and so, for a time at least, were some of his bishops ; and in the 
different Dioceses of Ulster might be seen priests and deacons of 
the Established Church, and here and there intermingled a Pres- 
byterian or Puritan minister, with a flock of their own peculiar 
creed and forms, under the bishop's supervision. The great 
revival had broken up some of this quietness and order that had 



THE EAGLE WING. 103 

prevailed, by exciting jealousies between the favorers and opposers 
of that blessed work : the bishops mostly withdrew their favor 
and protection, and were ready to carry into effect the rigid orders 
from Laud and the Deputy, and proceeded to silence those that 
would not conform strictly to the rites and ceremonies of the esta- 
blishment, and began with Blair and Livingston : but by the good 
offices of Archbishop Usher these men were restored to their 
ministry. Their enemies, however, made representations at Court 
which resulted in shutting out from the exercise of the ministry, 
Blair, Welch, Livingston, and Dunbar. 

These oppressed ministers, with many of their respective 
charges, began to make preparation for removal to America. Two 
persons were appointed delegates to visit New England, the Rev. 
John Livingston and Mr. William Wallace, and, if circumstances 
were favorable, to choose a place for their future residence. 
They proceeded to England to find a passage to America ; but 
some unexpected difficulties caused their return to Ireland, and 
prospects in Ireland appearing more favorable, the project was for 
a time abandoned. In 1634, these ministers, who had been re- 
stored to their office, were three of them again suspended, and 
the next year the fourth, Livingston, shared the same fate ; their 
only crime charged was their opposition to Episcopal forms. 
During the same year four other ministers were forbidden the 
exercise of their ministry on account of their adherence to Pres- 
byterial forms ; Brice, who was amongst the earliest that visited 
Ireland, and after a laborious ministry of twenty years, died the 
next year after his suspension, aged sixty-seven years, — Ridge, 
who went to Antrim in 1619, and had been most laborious and 
successful, and after his suspension returned to Scotland, and died 
1637, — Cunningham, who had gone over in 1622, and returning 
to Scotland, after his suspension, died in 1637, — and Cohoort, 
minister at Oldstone, where the great Revival began. 

Once more preparations for emigration were commenced, and a 
correspondence opened with the colonies in New England. Cotton 
Mather, m his Magnolia, tells us. Book 1st — " That there were 
divers gentlemen in Scotland, who, being uneasy under the eccle- 
siastical burdens of the times, wrote on to New England the in- 
quiries : — Whether they might be there suffered freely to exercise 
their Presbyterial church government ? And it was freely 
answered — that they might. Thereupon they sent over an agent, 
who pitched upon a tract of land near the mouth of the Merrimac 
River, whither they intended to transplant themselves. But 



104 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

although tliey had so far proceeded in their voyage as to be half- 
seas through, the manifold crosses they met withal, made them 
give over their intentions ; and the providence of God so ordered 
it that some of these very gentlemen were afterwards the revivers 
of that well-known Solemn League and Covenant, which had so 
great an influence upon the nation." There is one error in this 
extract. The conclusion would naturally be, that the expedition 
was from Scotland ; and very probably Mather understood it to 
be from that country, — whereas, the company sailed from the 
North of Ireland. The error arose undoubtedly from the fact, that 
the correspondence was carried on from Scotland, and the agent 
was a Scotchman, the ministers were from Scotland, and of no 
small eminence, and the colonists themselves were either Scotch- 
men by birth, or the children of Scotchmen reared in Ireland. 

The deposition of their ministers, which took place August 12th, 
1636, hastened the preparations for emigration, and on the 9th of 
the following September, the Eagle Wing, a vessel of one hun- 
dred and fifty tons, set sail from Lockfergus with one hundred and 
forty emigrants prepared for the voyage, and a settlement in a 
new country. The colonists took with them the necessary imple- 
ments for carrying on fisheries, and also a considerable amount of 
merchandise to assist them by traffic to meet the expenses of the 
voyage and necessities of the new settlement. Among the emi- 
grants were four noted preachers, Robert Blair, John Living- 
ston, James Hamilton, and John McClelland : all afterwards 
promoters of the cause of truth in Scotland and Ireland. Among 
the families that composed the company were the names Stuart, 
Agnew, Camphell, Summei-vil, and Broivn. Many single persons 
united in the expedition, and with them sailed Andrew Brown, a 
deaf mute, from the parish of Larne, who during the revival had 
been deeply affected, and had given satisfactory evidence, by 
signs connected with a godly life, of having been truly converted. 
Like the voyagers in the May Flower, this devoted people met 
with diflficulties. The New England Memorial traces them in 
the former case to the knavery of the shipmaster, first in spring- 
ing the leak, then in landing them far north of the intended har- 
bor ; in the present case the parties concerned referred them to 
the providence of God. 

" We had," says the Rev. John Livingston in his account of 
the voyage, " much toil in our preparation, many hindrances in 
our outsetting, and both sad and glad hearts in taking leave of our 
friends. At last, about the month of September, 1636, we loosed 



, THE EAGLE WING. 105 

from Lockfergus, but were detained some time with contrary 
winds in Lock Regan in Scotland, and grounded the ship to 
search for some leaks in the keel of the boat. Yet thereafter, we 
set to sea, and for some space had fair winds, till we were be- 
tween three and four hundred leagues from Ireland, and no nearer 
the banks of Newfoundland than any place in Europe. But if 
ever the Lord spoke by his winds and other dispensations, it was 
made evident to us, that it was not his will that we should go to 
New England. For we met with a mighty heavy rain from the 
northwest, which did break our rudder, which we got mended 
by the skill and courage of Captain Andrew Agnew, a godly- 
passenger ; and tore our foresail, five or six of our champlets, and 
a great beam under the gunner's room door broke. Seas came 
in over the round house, and broke a plank or two on the deck, 
and wet all that were between the decks. We sprung a leak, 
that gave us seven hundred, in the two pumps, in the half hour 
glass. Yet we lay at hull a long time to beat out the storm, 
till the master and company came one morning and told us that it 
was impossible to hold out any longer, and although we beat out 
that storm, we might be sure in that season of the year, we would 
foregather with one or two more of that sort before we could 
reach New England. 

" During all this time, amidst such fears and dangers, the most 
part of the passengers were very cheerful and confident ; yea, 
some in prayer had expressed such hopes, that rather than the 
Lord would suffer such a company in such sort to perish, if the 
ship should break, he would put wings to our shoulders, and 
carry us safe ashore. I never in my life found the day so short, 
as at all that time, although I slept some nights not above two 
hours, and some not at all, but stood most part in the gallery 
astern the great cabin, where Mr. Blair and I and our families 
lay. For in the morning, by the time every one had been some 
time alone, and then at prayer in their several societies, and then 
at public prayer in the ship, it was time to go to dinner ; after 
that we would visit our friends or any that were sick, and then 
public prayer would come, and after that, Supper and family ex- 
ercises. Mr. Blair was much of the time sickly, and lay in the 
time of storms. I was sometimes sick, and then brother McClel- 
land only performed duty in the ship. Several of those between 
deck, being thronged, were sickly ; an aged person and one child 
died, and were buried in the sea. One woman, the wife of 
Michael Calver, of Killinchy parish, brought forth a child in the 



106 



SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 



ship. I baptized it on Sabbath following, and called him 
Seaborn." 

The report of the master and company filled them with distress, 
— the storm was upon them and before them ; — oppression had 
driven them from Ireland, and waited their return. After prayer, 
and long and anxious consultation, they agreed to return ; trusting 
in the good providence of God for their future welfare. The next 
morning as soon as the day dawned, the ship was turned, and 
they made for Ireland. On the third of November, after a pros- 
perous sail, they came to anchor in Lockfergus, the place of their 
departure, after an absence of about eight weeks, cast down under 
this providence of God, and anticipating hostility, ridicule and 
suffering. Having sold their effects in preparation for the voyage, 
and having vested their property in provision and stock of mer- 
chandize, suitable for their expected residence, they experienced 
great loss in disposing of their cargo, and reinvesting the proceeds 
in things suitable to their emergency. The persons, they had 
hired to go with them to assist in fishing and building houses, 
demanded their wages, and were dismissed at great disadvantage 
to their employers. 

Their reception by their friends, like their departure, was 
mingled with " gladness and sorrow ;" — by their enemies with 
anxiety and disdain. Their friends commiserated their calamity, 
and rejoiced in their safety. Their enemies disliked their return, 
fearing the consequences, and were for a time divided in their 
opinion how they should be treated. Some were for exercising 
greater lenity ; others poured out their ridicule in no measured 
terms, and in ballads, and notes to printed sermons, compared 
these oppressed and disheartened people to asses, which the same 
vessel had a little before brought from France, — and their religious 
ministrations to brayings so sad, that Neptune had stopped their 
voyage, and sent them back to Ireland to be improved. 

The next year, 1637, the ministers finding no peace in Ireland, 
went over to Scotland, and met a most cordial reception from 
ministers and people. Mr. Blair was settled at Ayr ; Mr. Living- 
ston at Stranrear ; Mr. Hamilton at Dumfries ; Mr. Dunbar at 
Caldir in Lothian ; Mr. McClelland in Kirkcudbright ; Mr. 
Temple in Carsphain ; Mr. Row at Dunfermline ; and Mr. Robert 
Hamilton at Ballantises. These nine were zealous promoters of 
the National Covenant, which was renewed for the third time in 
Edinburgh, 1st March, 1638. Four of them were members of 
the famous assembly that met in Glasgow, in November of the 



THE EAGLE WING. 107 

same year, and took an active part in the doings of that body, by 
which Prelacy in Scotland was abolished, — the bishops deposed, — 
and Presbytery re-established. Those, who were settled on the 
western coast of Scotland, kept up their intercourse with Ulster ; 
and many of their former hearers removed to Scotland to enjoy 
their ministrations. On the stated communions, great numbers 
would go over from Ireland to enjoy the privileges they could not 
have at home ; on one occasion five hundred persons went over 
from Down to Stranrear, to receive the sacrament at the hands of 
Mr. Livingston. At another time, he baptized twenty children 
brought over to him, for that purpose, by their parents, who were 
unwilling to receive the ordinance from the Prelatical clergy. 

The influence which this company of emigrants exercised on 
Ireland, and ultimately on America, is incalculable. It is scarcely 
possible to conceive, that any situation in New England could 
have afforded them such a theatre of action as the province of 
Ulster ; perhaps none they might have occupied anywhere in 
America, even in founding a new State, could have afforded such 
ample exhibition of the power of their principles and godly lives. 
There had been a revival, a great revival in Ireland, among the 
emigrants from Scotland and their children ; but as yet, no 
Presbytery had been formed ; and the influence of the Presbyte- 
rian Protestants was circumscribed, and their principles not yet 
deep-rooted for permanency. Had^ this colony succeeded in find- 
ing an agreeable situation in America, in all probability so many 
of their friends and countrymen would have followed, that the 
North of Ireland would have been deserted to the native Irish, or 
the wild beasts, as in the times just preceding the emigration from 
Scotland. This company of men, as will be seen in the subse- 
quent history, were the efficient instruments in the hands of God, 
of embodying the Presbyterians of Ireland, of spreading their 
principles far and wide, and marshalling congregation after con- 
gregation, whose industry made Ulster blossom as the rose. The 
Presbyterians became the balancing power of Ireland. " You 
need not" — said an intelligent physician of Petersburg, Va., who 
is familiar with Ireland, and does not claim to be a Presbyterian, 
— " You need not ask when you are to pass from the Catholic 
counties to those of the Protestants. You will see and feel the 
change in everything around you." 

Had the principles of Usher prevailed, and these men been 
permitted to labor in peace in their parishes, it would in all proba- 
bility have been long before a Presbytery had been formed in Ire- 



108 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

land ; and when formed its influence and number of churches 
would have been really less than they were in 1642, the year the 
first Presbytery met. The intolerance of the Court and their 
obedient bishops drove these men out of the churches of the 
establishment. When the four set sail in 1636, for America, no 
faithful Presbyterian was left ; the others were dead, or had re- 
tired to Scotland ; all bonds were broken that might have held 
them in connection with the Episcopal church. The tempest 
brought them back to do a work in Scotland ; and the rebellion 
and consequent massacre, by the native Irish, opened the way for 
their successful labors in Ireland, and for founding the Irish Pres- 
byterian church. The wrath of man, and the tempests of the 
ocean, together work the wonderful counsels of Almighty God. 

After the lapse of some two-thirds of a century, Ulster began to 
send out swarms to America ; shipload after shipload of men 
trained to labor and habits of independence, sought the American 
shores ; year after year the tide rolled on without once ebbing ; 
and many thousands of these descendants of the emigrants from 
Scotland, disdaining to be called Irish, filled the upper country of 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Ulster, in Ireland, has 
been an exhaustless hive, a perennial spring ; and the form and 
fashion of its emigrants were moulded by these men, whom the 
storms baffled and sent back to do a work for Ireland and America. 
Livingston and Blair lived for Posterity. 

In 1608, Jamestown, in Virginia, was founded by a small com- 
pany from England ; in 1620, the May Flower landed her little 
band of Puritans on Plymouth rock ; in 1636, the Eaglewing re- 
landcd her company at Lochfergus ; and some few years after- 
wards King Cliarles forbade the sailing of the vessel that should 
have carried away from England the Spirits of the Revolution. 
Napoleon, with all his immense hosts of savans and soldiers, did 
not, could not so change the condition of the world, as those four 
bands that, collectively, would scarce have formed a regiment in 
his immense army. Principles, not men, must govern the world 
under the Providence of God. 

It was well that the distressed people of Ireland turned their 
thoughts to America for a resting place ; it was better that they 
embarked for the wilderness, as it manifested an enterprise equal 
to the emergency ; but it was better still that God's wise provi- 
dence sent them back to labor for Ireland, and shut them up to the 
work ; and last, it was best of all, that they laid the foundation of 
that church which may claim to be the mother of the American 
Presbyterian Church, the worthy child of a worthy mother. 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 109 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 

The first meeting of a regular Presbytery in Ireland took place at 
Carrickfergus on Friday, June 10th, 1642. Previously to that 
time the ministers in Ireland, who promoted the Revival, acted on 
Presbyterial principles, though by law of England under the juris- 
diction of Bishops of the Church of England. At the Reforma- 
tion almost the entire Irish nation were Roman Catholics or Pa- 
pists ; and the majority of the nation are to this day. Henry VIII. 
of England commenced establishing a Protestant national church, 
and Elizabeth followed up the design ; and James perfected the 
plan as far as he was able. Bishops were sent over, and the clergy 
were appointed to parishes and supported by the authority of 
the state ; yet the mass of the people remained Papists, and 
maintained their own bishops and priests, and received the ordi- 
nances at their hands. The Scotch emigrants were divided, in 
their settlements, into parishes ; or rather, the boundaries of the 
old parishes remained, and clergy were supplied by the state to 
the inhabitants, of whatever country or religious principles they 
might chance to be. The parishes occupied the same territory 
embraced by the Papists in their ecclesiastical divisions ; and 
neither the Scotch emigrants nor the native Irish Papists were 
permitted by law to enjoy their own clergy, or their own religious 
ceremonies ; and both were sufferers under the severities of 
Charles I. and Archbishop Laud. The ministers who went over 
to Ireland to preach to the Scotch, a short account of whom has 
been given, were presented to parishes and admitted regularly ; 
some were ordained by the Bishop, in conjunction with other clergy 
as a Presbytery, objecting more or less strenuously to his prelati- 
cal character. 

A convocation of the Irish clergy was summoned in 1615, be- 
fore any number of ministers from Scotland had visited the island. 
As the Irish Church had always been independent of that of Eng- 
land, it was thought necessary to declare its faith, and settle its 
form of government. The only statutes in force in the kingdom 
respected solely the celebration of public worship, which was made 



110 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

conformable to that of the Enghsh churches. The Enghsh ritual 
was followed ; but the Irish Church had not adopted a Confession 
of Faith. Dr. James Usher, Professor of Divinity in the College 
of Dublin, and afterwards Archbishop, was appointed to draw up 
a Confession ; this task he performed to the approbation of the 
Convocation and the Parliament, and also to the satisfaction of the 
King and Council. The Confession was digested into no less than 
nineteen sections, and one hundred and four propositions ; and was 
as decidedly Calvi}iistic as that afterwards drawn up by the West- 
minster Divines. The Pope was pronounced Antichrist ; the doc- 
trine of Absolution condemned ; the morality of the Sabbath 
strongly asserted, in opposition to the King's well known senti- 
ments. The reason for this was, — that the intolerance practised 
in England induced many of the Puritans to emigrate to Ireland ; 
and there, the King, glad to have them out of England, gave them 
preferments. Heylin says : — " They brought with them hither 
such a stock of Puritanism, such a contempt of bishops, such a 
neglect of the public Liturgy, and other offices of the Church, 
that there was nothing less to be found among them than the go- 
vernment and forms of worship established in the Church of Eng- 
land ! He was understood also as implying the validity of ordina- 
tions out of the English Church as truly as those performed by 
Diocesan Bishops. His words are : — " And those we ought to 
judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this 
work, by men, who have public authority given them, in the 
Church, to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard." 

Robert Blair, one of the most eminent of those who went to 
Ireland, from Scotland, refused to be ordained by the Diocesan 
Bishop alone, or by him in conjunction with Presbyters, in any other 
light than as a Presbyter. With that express understanding, as 
he asserts, he was ordained by the Bishop and other clergy. 

John Livingston, another laborer of great eminence, objected 
to ordination by the Bishop of the established church, and, as the 
Bishop of Down, in which his parish was, had resolved, in obe- 
dience to the court of England, to require submission to the rules 
of the Established Church, he applied to Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, 
taking with him letters of introduction from Lord Claneboy, and 
others. He says Knox received him kindly, and said he knew his 
errand, and that he was aware he had scruples against Episcopacy, 
as Welch and others had, and then proceeded to say, " that if I 
scrupled to call him my Lord, he cared not much for it ; all that 
he would desire of me was, that I should preach at Rann^on the 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. Ill 

first Sabbath, because they got there but few sermons, and tliat 
he would send for Mr. Wilham Cunmngham, and two or three 
Other neighboring ministers to be present, who, after sermon, 
should give me imposition of hands ; but, although they perform- 
ed the work, he behoved to be present ; and although he durst not 
answer it to the State, he gave me the book of ordination, and de- 
sired that anything I scrupled at, I should draw a line over it on 
the margin, and that Mr. Cimningham should not read it. But I 
found that it had been so marked hy others before, that 1 7ieed not 
mark anything.^'' Thus it appears Presbyterian ordination was 
introduced before the revival, and was acted on during that gi-eat 
excitement out of which grew the Irish Presbyterian Church. 

But the rigor of James, towards the latter part of his life, and 
the severity of Charles I., and Archbishop Laud, in their en- 
deavors to enforce conformity to the Established Church, had become 
more and more oppressive, till, after the failure of the attempt at 
emigration in the Eagle Wing, the Presbyterian clergy left the 
country in 1637, and retired to Scotland. The congregations to 
which they had ministered were left without instruction, except 
what they received from their more eminent laymen, who conduct- 
ed public worship for the people that would come together ; and 
many were inclined to do this, notwithstanding all the efforts of 
Lord Stafford, the Deputy in Ireland, to make them conform to 
the Established Church. By the petition sent by these Presby- 
terians to the Long Parliament, we learn that after all efforts for 
their destruction, they continued a numerous people. The re- 
vival had subsided, but religion had not died away ; and although 
King Charles had forgotten the obligations of his father to them, 
they had not forgotten their obligation to the great head of the 
church, or lost their love for his truth. 

The introduction of the Scottish army into Ulster, to quell the 
rebellion that broke out October 13th, 1641, changed the face of 
affairs in these congregations, and was the means of forming a 
presbytery, and restoring pastors to these suffering flocks. The 
Papists had made insurrection and furious rebellion, with design of 
cutting off the Protestants, and restoring the ceremonies and wor- 
ship of the Church of Rome. Their plans were laid for concerted 
action, and the energy with which they were carried out may be 
judged from the fact that in a few months, at the lowest calculation 
40,000, and as some Catholic writers, and some Protestants also, 
assert, 150,000 persons were brought to an untimely end. These 
sufT ers were Protestants ; but a small part only were Presbyte- 



112 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

rians, for the nobles and clergy of that denomination had fled to 
Scotland some time before, to escape the persecutions and impo- 
sitions of the Established Church. This rebellion was at first 
encouraged by King Charles, as an event that would operate fa- 
vorably upon his interests ; and both he and the Papists agreed in 
sparing the Scotch Presbyterians, — probably because they had not 
declared for the parliament against the king. The flight of the 
Scotch in 1637, and onwards, was pre-eminently their safety; 
they escaped from the unreasonable Prelates first, and then from 
the massacre of the Papists. God knows how to deliver his 
people. The company of emigrants in the Eagle Wing must not 
reach America, neither must it be cut oif in this massacre ; 
it had a great and glorious work to accomplish, and that work 
was to be done in Ireland, and the bright day of its accomplish- 
ment should break after a most tempestuous night. 

After many horrible massacres perpetrated during the winter of 
1641-2, Major General Monro was sent over from Scotland in the 
spring, with a force of 2,500 men ; with these, in conjunction with 
the Scotch and other Protestants in Ulster, after many battles and 
sieges, he succeeded in crushing the rebellion. The Lagan forces 
(or those from the northern part of Donegal) had signalized them- 
selves before the arrival of the Scotch army, and continued their 
brave and enterprising eflbrts after that event, stimulating them by an 
honorable rivalry, to a speedy accomplishment of their mission, the 
suppression of the rebellion. The Scotch forces were from seven dif- 
erent regiments, each of which had its chaplain. The Rev. Hugh 
Cunningham was attached to Glencairn's regiment; Rev. Thomas 
Peebles, to Eglenton's ; Rev. John Baird, to Argyle's ; Rev. James 
Simpson,to Sinclair's; Rev. John Scott,to Home's; Rev. John Aird, 
to Lindsay's, or Monro's ; and the Rev. John Livingston, who was 
so much beloved in L-eland, was sent along with the army by the 
Council. These ministers were active and fervent in their preach- 
ing to the army ; and in the parishes near the encampment, where 
their labors were higlily appreciated, " as cold waters to a thirsty 
soul," " and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." The 
country was entirely without a Protestant clergy ; the Scotch had 
been driven off before the rebellion, and the Prelates and their 
clergy fled from the murderous hands of the Papists. After the 
rebellion was crushed, public attention was turned to procuring 
pastors and spiritual guides for the vacant parishes ; and the incli- 
nation of the people was speedily manifested in the eflbrts to obtain 
ministers. Those who had been Presbyterians previously, re- 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 113 

mained so still ; and many others were now inclined to unite with 
them, very few of the laity being attached to the Prelates or the 
Established Church. Those who had fled to Scotland during the 
rebellion returned, and all declared for Presbytery ; and many that 
had been inclined to Episcopacy, were disgusted with the transac- 
tions in England, and united with the Presbyterians in settling their 
church in a formal manner as a distinct church. The plan of 
Archbishop Usher would probably have been acted out in Ireland, 
but for the intolerant disposition and principles of Laud and his 
master. King Charles. Whether under any circumstances it could 
prosper, can never be satisfactorily determined till a more complete 
trial be made than the few years of imperfect action during the re- 
vival in Ireland. 

The chaplains first formed regular churches in four of the regi- 
ments, — Argyle's, Egienton's, Glencairn's and Home's — choosing 
the most grave and pious men for elders, and setting them apart 
to their office in due form, according to the Scotch Confession. 
On the 10th of June, 1642, five ministers, Messrs. Cunningham, 
Peebles, Baird, Scott and Aird, Messrs. Livingston and Simpson 
being necessarily absent, with an elder from each of the four 
sessions, met and constituted a Presbytery in the army. Mr. 
Baird preached from the latter part of the 51st Psalm — " Do good 
in thy good pleasure unto Zion ; build thou the walls of Jerusa- 
lem." Mr. Peebles was chosen stated clerk, and held the office 
till his death, a period of about thirty years. The ministers pro- 
duced their acts of admission to their regiments, and the elders 
their commissions from the Sessions ; and the Presbytery was 
constituted in due form. As the formation of the Presbytery was 
speedily known in the country, applications poured in from all 
sides to be received into their connexion, and to obtain the regu- 
lar ordinances of the gospel ; and the ministers proceeding to visit 
the congregations, in a short time there were sixteen regular 
sessions formed in important parishes. 

By the prudent and zealous efforts of these seven ministers the 
foundations of the Presbyterian church were relaid in Ulster pro- 
vince, in conformity with the model of the Church of Scotland. 
From this period the complete organization of the Presbyterian 
church in Ireland takes its date, and the history of her ministers, 
her congregations, and her ecclesiastical councils, can be traced 
in uninterrupted succession ; the principles then adopted, and the 
form of worship then introduced, continue to this day ; and the 
government and discipline then adopted continue in all essential 

8 



114 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

points unaltered, and all are to be found in the Presbyterian 
church in the United States, to which they have descended as 
from parent to child. 

The people agreed to petition the General Assembly of the 
Church of Scotland, which was to meet in July, for supplies, 
and various papers were drawn up and signed by the inhabitants 
of diflferent parishes, requesting that those ministers who had 
formerly labored among them might be sent back to them, and 
others along with them, to fill the numerous vacancies in that 
spiritually desolate province. The Assembly listened kindly to 
these petitions, and appointed a commission of six ministers to 
visit Ireland and instruct and regulate congregations, and ordain 
to the ministry such as might be found properly qualified. The 
ministers were to go two and two on a tour of four months. Mr. 
Robert Blair and James Hamilton for the first four months, Ro- 
bert Ramsay and John McClellan for the next four, and Robert 
Baillie and John Livingston for the last four. These brethren 
were everywhere received with joy ; congregations were organ- 
ized on Presbyterian principles, members received into the church, 
and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper administered. 
Their preachings were incessant, and the congregations large ; 
people renounced prelacy, and those who had taken the Black 
-oath, as it was termed, by which they solemnly engaged not to 
^resist the king, were called to public renunciation and repent- 
ance. No person was admitted to the privileges of the church 
who did not possess a competent degree of knowledge, or who 
did not fully approve of her constitution and discipline, or was 
unable to state the grounds of that approbation. The congrega- 
tions took possession of the parish churches that were standing 
vacant, and likely to remain so, and many who had been episco- 
pally ordained, came and joined the Presbytery, but were not 
recognized as members until they had been regularly called and 
inducted to the charge of some congregation. Thus those min- 
isters who had first been led to go to Ireland because they could 
not exercise their ministry in Scotland, and after being success- 
ful in Ireland were driven back to Scotland, now came again to 
Ireland, having been driven back from America by a tempest, 
and set up the Presbyterian church which has flourished so 
gloriously, and been the parent church of so many in America, 
particularly in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina. 
During the year 1643, the Solemn League and Covenant was 
adopted by the Westminster Assembly and the British Parliament 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 115 

on the one side, and the Scottish nation on the other. This 
League and Covenant was presented to the Presbyterians in 
Ulster, and during the year 1644 was adopted by great numbers 
in Down, Derry, Antrim, Donegal, and parts of Tyrone and 
Fermanagh. The English parliament on the 16th of October, 
1643, requested the Scotch commissioners to take steps that the 
Covenant " be taken by all the officers, soldiers, and Protestants 
of their nation in Ireland." After some correspondence and va- 
rious plans, this important business was committed to those mi- 
nisters who had been appointed by the assembly to visit Ireland, 
the Rev. Messrs. James Hamilton, John Weir, William Adair, 
and Hugh Henderson. The civil and ecclesiastical authorities of 
Edinburgh made choice of the first of these, Mr. Hamilton, mi- 
nister of Dumfries, to be the bearer of the Covenant ; the others 
were associated for the work of presenting it to the churches. 
In sending word to the forces in Ireland of their appointment, 
these ministers say, " As our cause is one, and has common 
friends and enemies, so we must resolve, with God's assistance, 
to stand or fall together." They reached Carrickfergus the last 
of March, and were all present at the Presbytery held there on 
the 1st of April, 1644. " The Covenant was taken on the 4th of 
that month, with great solemnity, in the church at Carrickfergus, 
by Monro and his officers, and in ten days afterwards, by all his 
soldiers. Major Dalzel (afterwards so well known in the dis- 
tresses in Scotland) was the only person who refused." It pro- 
duced the same effects in Ulster it had in other parts of the king- 
dom, ascertaining and uniting the friends of liberty, and inspiring 
them with fresh confidence in the arduous struggle in which they 
were engaged, and diffused through the country a strong attach- 
ment to the Presbyterian cause ; and what is of higher moment, 
it revived the cause of true religion, so that from this period is 
reckoned the second Reformation. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties and trials to which the Presby- 
terians in Ireland were exposed, on one side by the authorities of 
King Charles, and on the other by the parliament, which ultimate- 
ly brought the king to the block, the church continued to prosper. 
In the year 1647, there were about thirty ordained Presbyterian 
ministers in Ulster, besides some chaplains of regiments ; on ac- 
count of some severe laws which drove many to Scotland, there 
were, in the year 1653, but about tioenty-four ; and again in the 
year 16,57, by the relaxation of the laws, there were about eighty 
in the different counties of the province of Ulster. 



116 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In the year 1 655, it was agreed there should be what is called 
Meetings, in Down, Antrim, and Route with Lagan, consisting 
of the contiguous brethren who met for consultation, putting over 
the more important matters that required action, to the regular 
meeting of the whole Presbytery. Two years after, these meet- 
ings were increased to five. Route being separated from Lagan, 
and Tyrone being added ; and in a little time there became^we 
Presbyteries, by dividing the original Presbytery ; which number 
continued till 1702, when four more were added, making the whole 
number nine. At this present time there are twenty-four in the 
Synod of Ulster. From the close connection between Synod and 
Presbytery in Ireland, it probably happened that the fii'st Presby- 
terian Synod in the United States, made by the division of a large 
Presbytery, frequently performed acts which are now, by common 
consent, performed only by the Presbytery or at their order. At the 
time of the Restoration, in 1660, there were in the province of 
Ulster not less than seventy regularly settled Presbyterian minis- 
ters ; — about eighty congregations, comprising not less than one 
hundred thousand souls. If the statement of one of their ene- 
mies be true, the population connected with the Presbyterian min- 
isters must have much exceeded that number ; he says — " in the 
north (of Ireland) the Scotch keep up an interest distinct in garb 
and all formalities, and are able to raise 40,000 fighting men at any 
time." This number of fighting men would require a greater popu- 
lation than 100,000. That they would raise an army and fight 
for their lives, their enemies knew from fatal experience. 

From six ministers, in about forty years of constant resistance 
to oppression, under the two Charleses, and of their predecessor, 
James I., the congregations had increased to about eighty ; and 
the preachers to nearly the same number, though repeatedly driven 
off and kept in banishment for years, on every return increasing 
in numbers and influence. This perseverance of a harassed 
people impresses the mind with the strong conviction, that they 
felt in their consciences, that their principles of civil and religious 
liberty were the truth of God, and imperishable. In 1689, the 
time the Toleration Act came in force, there were in the five 
Presbyteries about one hundred congregations, eighty ministers 
and eleven licentiates. The vine of the Lord's planting grew, 
though " the boar out of the wood did pluck at her," and they that 
passed by did trample her down. 

The Presbytery of Lagan, embracing the northern part of the 
county of Donegal, principally that between the Foyle and the Swilly, 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 117 

and containing in the year 1660 thirteen members, all of whom 
were ejected by Charles 11. 1661, is peculiarly full of interest to 
the American Church, as that body which licensed the Rev. 
Francis Makemie, and afterwards ordained him, for the purpose 
of sending him to America, the first Presbyterian Preacher 
that ever visited the western continent. This honor belongs un- 
disputedly to the Church in Ireland, and the Presbytery of Lagan, 
Those in New England who have been called Presbyterians were 
not formed into regular Presbyteries as in Scotland and Ireland ; but 
liad lay elders and held Presbyterian sentiments. The first preach- 
ers and the first regular congregations were from Ireland, which 
poured forth emigrants in swarms all the early part of the eighteenth 
century. It may be gratifying to many to know the names of 
those thirteen ejected ministers of the Lagan, worthy of everlasting 
remembrance. King Charles began the work of ejectment in 
Ireland under Jeremy Taylor in 1661, giving the front rank in this 
ecclesiastical martyrdom to the Presbyterians of Ulster. The 
Puritans of England were called to the same trial in August, 1662, 
when about 2,000 ministers were deprived of their parishes ; and the 
same scene of trial and heroic suffering was enacted the following 
October in Scotland. The ministers of the Presbytery of Lagan 
were, Robert Wilson, Robert Craighead, Adam White, William 
Moorcraft, John Wool, William Sample, John Hart, John Adam- 
son, John Crookshanks, Thomas Drummond, Hugh Cunningham, 
Hugh Peebles, and William Jack. ' The first three survived the 
happy revolution of 1688, when William, Prince of Orange, as- 
cended the throne of England; and enjoyed the toleration proclaimed 
in 1689. 

The Rev. Thomas Drummond, of Ramelton in Donegal, in- 
troduced Mr. Makemie to the Presbytery as a member of his 
charge, and worthy of their notice. In the year 1681, — the same 
year that four of the members of the Presbytery were put in con- 
finement, for keeping a fast, after having been fined £20 each, to 
be kept in confinement till they should give bonds not to offend 
again, and after eight months' confinement were released, — he was 
licensed to preach the gospel. These four ministers were William 
Trail, James Alexander, Robert Campbell, and John Hart ; three 
of them were members introduced after the ejectment by Jeremy 
Taylor in 1661. The Church in Ireland was like the Israelites in 
bondage, — the more it was oppressed, the more it grew. From the 
minutes of this Presbytery it appears that Capt. Archibald Johnson 
had, as early as August, 1 678, applied for a minister for Barbadoes j 



1 1 8 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and in 1680 Col. Stevens of Maryland applied for a minister to 
settle in that colony; and Mr. Makemie was designated as the man. 
As the clerk of the Presbytery and three others were imprisoned 
in 1681, there is a deficiency in the minutes, and the meetings 
of Presbytery being for some time irregular, no record is pre- 
served of the time or place of his ordination, though in all proba- 
bility it took place in 1681 or 1682. This fixes the time of his 
removal to America, whether to Barbadoes first, or to Virginia and 
Maryland, for he labored in all these places, as is now satisfactorily 
ascertained. He led the way for Presbyterian ministers to Ame- 
rica, and was prominent in forming the first Presbytery, that of 
Philadelphia, in 1706, a Presbytery which has since spread out into 
the General Assembly of the United States of America. 

No little anxiety has been felt and expressed about the original 
component parts of this first Presbytery, and what interpretation 
of the Confession of Faith they may have given. The dis- 
cussion has been animated, and from the circumstantial evidence 
collected, the inference general that they did put a strict con- 
struction on the Articles of our Faith. The facts just related about 
Francis Makemie and the Presbytery that ordained him, are sufiS- 
cient to justify our belief that the man that took the Solemn League 
and Covenant, as the candidates of the Presbyteries in Ireland then 
did, put a strict construction on the Articles of the Confession ; 
and the following facts, that the year before the Presbytery was 
formed, he brought over, from a visit to his native land, two minis- 
ters from the province of Ulster, John Hampton and George 
M'Nish, who formed part of the first Presbytery, — men educated as 
he had been, in trouble, and made to choose Presbytery in the face 
of great opposition and suffering, — will set the matter at rest. 
Three other ministers soon followed. It is not likely that such a 
man as Makemie, with two others of like spirit, would have 
agreed to form a doubtful Presbyteiy, to please Mr. Andrews and 
the Church in Philadelphia provided they wished such a Presby- 
tery, of which there is no evidence ; as there were ministers 
enough to form a decided and strict one, without going to Phila- 
delphia, the clmrch of which city was weaker than the church at 
Snow Hill in Maryland. 

The solemn League and Covenant first framed by John Craig, 
and called Craig's Confession, or the first National Covenant of 
Scotland, and subscribed by the leaders of the people, December 
3d, 1557; and subscribed by King James and household, and the 
nation generally in 1581 : enlarged and signed again in 1588 : and 



FORMATION OF PRESBYTERIES IN IRELAND. 119 

again in 1638 enlarged, and made to consist of three parts — the 
first, the old Covenant by Craig, — the second, condemning Popery, 
by Johnston of Warriston, — third, the application of the whole to 
the present time, by Alexander Henderson ; and signed by the 
people at large in 1638 : and again remodelled by Henderson and 
adopted in August, 1643 : and also by the Westminster Divines and 
the Parliament of England, September 25th of the same year; and 
in the spring of 1644 by the Churches of Ireland; and continuing 
to this day a binding instrument in Scotland, and making a part of 
their printed Confession and Discipline, and also acknowledged as 
binding to this day by a large numb^p: of the descendants of the 
Scotch and Irish emigrants to America, — leaves no rational doubt 
what views of the Confession of Faith those that lived so near the 
times of the grand national subscription of 1643 and 1644 must 
have had. In matters of conscience they had been accustomed to 
resist the king ; they bound themselves by this solemn oath to do 
it ; and this solemn League was inseparably connected with their 
doctrinal creed and form of church government, which were 
strictly Presbyterian. 



120 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH EMIGRANTS. 

The religious sentiments of the emigrants having been given, as 
Calvinistic and Presbyterian, for the holding of which they had 
suffered, and were ready tQ*..sViffer again, we will glance at their 
political principles, which had no small influence in their emigrai- 
tion and location, and after life, — forming one of the three grand 
motives to cross the waters, — Religion, Politics, and Property. 

I. In the truest sense of the word they were loyal. They, 
and their ancestors, were well convinced of the importance of a 
regular and firm government ; and were true to their promises and 
their allegiance. James I. chose the Scotch for the colonizing 
Ireland, for two reasons : first, from their habits they were more 
likely to overcome the difficulties of a settlement ; and second, 
from their principles of allegiance, most likely to make Ireland 
what he wished it — pacific and prosperous. In the first he was 
not disappointed ; and his hopes of the second were crossed only 
as he and his successors failed to extend to the emigrants that 
protection he had promised, and was well able to give. They 
always maintained the conceded authority of the king, as supreme 
ruler according to the Solemn League and Covenant, by which 
they held themselves bound from the time it was taken in 1644, 
till they left Ireland about a century afterward ; and some of their 
posterity in America profess to feel its binding power in some 
respects to this day. They opposed those violent measures, in 
parliament and out, which led to, or hastened, the king's death. 
They desired a reform of abuses, and a fulfilment of the Solemn 
League, on the part of the king, and designed a fulfilment of their 
own promises, and had not been found deficient in any emer- 
gency. They expected the king to be honest while they were 
loyal. 

Their views of the parliamentary authority, after the king's 
death, are well expressed by one of their ministers, on examination 
before the military authority of the Parliament, at Carrickfergus, 
in 1650. Being required to take the Oath, or Engagement of 
submission to Parliament, which was to be in place of the Solemn 



POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 121 

League of obedience to the king ; the parhament having, by en- 
actment, made it high treason to acknowledge a government by- 
King, Lords, and Commons : — " We mnst be convinced," said 
this minister in the name of the rest, " that the power which now 
rules England is the lawful parliamentary authority of that king- 
dom." Col. Venable rephed : " They call themselves so !" The 
minister replied : " It seems to us a strange assertion that they 
are a parliament because they say so ; or are a power because 
they place power in themselves. Kings and other magistrates are 
called by the ordinance of man, because they are put in their 
office by men. Men are called to the magistracy htj the suffrage 
of the people, whom they govern ; and, for men to assume unto 
themselves power, is mere tyranny and unjust usurpation.'''' 

They would rather be governed by a lawful king than an usurp- 
ing or doubtful parliament ; by one they chose, even though he 
might be a tyrant in disposition, than by a company they had not 
elected, though they might do some things well. They fully be- 
lieved that the liberties of the subject might consist with the regal 
authority ; that the privileges they asked were no infringement of 
the necessary rights of the crown, and that their enjoyment would 
render the government more stable, entrenching it in the hearts of 
the people, in whose affections all governments rest at last. 

IL They claimed, and persisted in claiming, the privilege of 
choosing their own ministers, or religious instructors, as an inhe- 
rent right that could not be given lip, and any civil or religious 
liberty be preserved. Here was the ground of all the difficulty of 
the Presbyterians in L'eland ; they would choose their own minis- 
ters, — and with the choice of ministers was of course connected 
the forms of religious worship, and the articles of their religious 
creed ; a difficulty that was removed only by first emigrating to 
America, and then toiling through the Revolution. They desired 
in Ireland what the Scotch are now asking in Scotland, the liberty 
of choosing their own ministry. The Irish conceded what the 
Scotch concede now, that the king might prescribe the way the 
minister should be supported ; they were willing to be taxed in 
large or small parishes, but insisted on the liberty of choosing their 
own teachers, and deciding on the forms with which they would 
worship God. They yielded to the civil authority all honor and 
service and money, and demanded protection for their persons in 
the enjoyment of their property and religion. Their folly, if folly 
it might be called, in their circumstances, was, to expect that 
freedom in religion, under a monarchy, which never had been 



122 



SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



found ; and which never has existed under any government except 
in these United States. These people had advanced far in the know- 
ledge of human rights ; were in the high road to republicanism, with- 
out, perhaps, being aware of the lengths they had already advanced; 
that, judging from their answer to the parliamentary committee 
— that men are called to the magistracy by the suffrage of the 
people — they were already republicans. Perhaps they did not fully 
understand liberty of conscience ; or if they did, as there is some 
reason to believe, they had not room or opportunity for its exer- 
cise ; hemmed in to choose one form of religion as the paramount 
one, they of course chose their own for the religion of the whole. 
How they would have acted had the power of the State been at 
their command, it is in vain perhaps to conjecture. 

They also demanded that their ministers should be ordained by 
Presbyteries, and not by prelatic bishops ; the apparent yielding 
of some things under the influence of Archbishop Usher, soon being 
turned to uncompromising sternness, by the exercise of arbitrary 
power to compel them to conform. The principle of the house 
of Stuart was, '' no Prelate, 710 King ;'" that of the Presbyterian 
Irish was, " the king without Prelates ; all sufferings at home rather 
than Prelates ; exile rather than Prelates." 

III. Strict discipline in morals, and full instruction of youth and 
children. These were connected with the Presbyterian body in 
Scotland ; were transplanted to Ireland, there cherished, and were 
the foundation principles on which their society was built ; were 
taken to America by the emigrants, and have been characteristic 
of the Scotch-Irish settlements throughout the land. Children 
were early taught to read, and exercised in reading the Bible every 
day ; and became familiar with the word of God in the family, in 
the school, and in the house devoted to the worship of the 
Almighty God. Their moral principles were derived from the 
words of him who Hves and abides for ever ; and the commands of 
God, and the awful retributions of eternity, gave force to these 
principles, which became a living power, and a controlling influ- 
ence. The time has but just passed, when the schoolmaster from 
Ireland taught the children of the Valley of Virginia, and the 
upper part of tlie Carolinas, as they taught in the mother country, 
— when the children and youth at school recited the Assembly's 
shorter Catechism once a week, and read parts of the Bible every 
day. The circle of their instruction was circumscribed ; but the 
children were taught to speak the truth, and defend it, — to keep a 



POLITICAL SENTIMENTS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH. 123 

conscience and fear God, — the foundation of good citizens, and 
truly great men. 

Wherever they settled in America, besides the common schools, 
they turned their attention to high schools or academies, and to 
colleges, to educate men for all the departments of life, carrying in 
their emigration, the deep conviction, that without sound and 
extensive education, there could be no permanence in religious or 
civil institutions, or any pure and undebased enjoyments of domes- 
tic life. The religious creed of the emigrants made part of their 
politics, so far as to decide that no hw of human government 
ought to be tolerated in opposition to the expressed will of God. 
It was on this ground, their fathers in Ireland resisted the arbitrary 
exactions of the Charleses and the Jameses, whom they consi- 
dered lawful rulers, whom they had recognized in the solemn 
League, and whom they were bound, and willing to obey in all 
things that did not involve violation of conscience by sinning 
against God. 

Whether they were aware how far their principles actually 
led them, before they came to America, is doubtful ; they 
had acknowledged that the authority of human government 
was from the same divine hand that made the world, fashion- 
ing the fabric of human society to require the exercise of 
good and wholesome laws for the promotion of the greatest 
good ; — and had also claimed the right of choosing those who 
should frame and execute these law^ ; — contending that rulers, 
as well as the meanest subject, were bound by law. These prin- 
ciples, modified by experience, and digested into extended form, 
are the republican principles of the Scotch-Irish in America. On 
matters of national policy, and the smaller concerns of political 
organizations, they have differed in opinion and differ still, 
and will probably differ for ever, from the nature of the 
human mind in the independent exercise of thought. But on the 
great principles of freedom of conscience in matters of religion — 
on the supremacy of the laws — on the choice of rulers by the ex- 
pressed will of a free people — and the undisturbed enjoyment of 
life, limb and property, in submission to constituted government — 
there never has been, and probably never will be, any division of 
sentiment or feeling. In the blood shed on the Alamance, and in the 
declaration of independence in Mecklenburg, a casual observer 
must see, it was opposition to tyranny, and not the execution of 
the laws of a just government, that urged the people on. A people 
educated as they had been for generations, and placed in circum- 



124 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Stances calculated to provoke independence of action, could not 
have acted differently, and retain their identity of character. 

The siege of Derry was undertaken and sustained with its in- 
numerable and unmeasured sufferings, in opposition to a king they 
had repudiated, and a hierarchy they abhorred ; and to defend the 
government from which they hoped for freedom and quietness, and 
the exercise of their religious principles and forms without tyran- 
nical interference. It is not probable that these men, — and some of 
the men of Derry emigrated to America, and laid their bones south of 
the Potomac, — or their immediate descendants, who lived in the days 
of the American Revolution (and there were many such), would 
hold back their hearts and hands, and belie the great principles that 
had done so much for Protestant England, and ultimately so much 
for America. Tyrannical government of colonies of such people 
must produce a revolution ; and had Governor Martin studied the 
character and circumstances of the people he marched to subdue, 
with any feelings of justice and humanity, he would first have re- 
dressed their grievances, and then bound to his government a wil- 
ling, grateful people, and at least for a time stayed the progress of 
revolution in North Carolina, and by the wholesome example, de- 
layed, if not prevented it, throughout the United Provinces. 

The Presb)^terians in Carolina have ever been a lawrloving, law- 
abiding people ; differing sometimes about the extent of powers 
to be granted to magistrates, all unite in reverence for the laws 
enacted by the regular authorities under the adopted Constitution. 
They have always felt it was better to endure some evils than en- 
counter the horrors of a revolutionary war ; but they have always 
felt it better to endure all the protracted miseries of a revolution- 
ary struggle than fail to enjoy- liberty of person, property, and con- 
science. Their ideas of religious liberty have given a coloring to 
their political notions on all subjects ; perhaps it is more just to 
say, have been the foundation of their political creed. The Bible 
has been their text-book on all subjects of importance ; and the 
principles of the Bible carried out will produce a course of action 
like the emigration of the Scotch-Irish to America, — and their re- 
sistance to tyranny, in the blood shed on the Alamance, and their 
Declaration of Independence at Charlotte. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE FEAR. 125 



CHAPTER X. 

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON THE RIVER CAPE FEAR ; 
AND THE REVEREND JAMES CAMPBELL. 

The time of the settlement of the first Scotch families upon the 
river Cape Fear, is not known with, exactness. There v\rere some 
at the time of the separation of the province into North and South 
Carohna, in the year 1729. In consequence of disabilities in their 
native land, the enterprising Scotch followed the example of their 
relations in Ireland, and sought refuge and abundance in America ; 
and some time previous to the emigration from the province of Ulster 
to the Yadkin, numerous families occupied the extended plains 
along the Cape Fear, in that part of Bladen county, now Cumber- 
land. From records in possession of the descendants of Alexan- 
der Clark, it appears that he came over and took his residence on 
the river in" the year 1736, and that a " ship load" of emigrants 
came over with him. It also appears that he found " a good many" 
Scotch settled in Cumberland at the time of his arrival, amongst 
whom was Hector McNeill, called Bluff Hector, from his resi- 
dence near the bluffs above Cross Creeks, or Fayetteville, and 
John Smith, with his two children, Malcolm and Janet, his wife, 
Margaret Gilclirist, having died on the passage up the river. 

Alexander Clark came from Jura, one of the Hebrides. His 
ancestors, particularly his grandfather, had suffered much in the 
wars that had desolated Scotland, and fell heaviest on the Presby- 
terians. Being constrahied to flee for his life, his grandfather took . 
two of his sons and went to Ireland, and saw many trials and suf- 
ferings, which were brought to a close by the battle of the Boyne, 
that decided the fate of the British dominions. Returning to 
Scotland after the peace, he sought his family ; leaving the vessel, 
he ascended a hill that overlooked his residence, and gazed in sad- 
ness over the desolation that met his eye ; to use his own words, 
" but three smokes in all Jura could be seen." Not a member of 
his family could be found to tell the fate of the rest. They had 
all perished in the persecutions. He returned to Ireland to find 
his cup of bitterness, overflowing as it was, made still more bitter 



■ 126 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

by llic death of one of his two sons. After some time he return- 
ed, and spent the remainder of his days in Jura, having for his 
second wife one whose sufferings had been equal to his own. Her 
infant had been taken from her arms, its head severed from its body 
in her presence, and used by a ruffian, twisting his hand in its hair, 
to beat the mother on the breast till she was left for dead. Gilbert, 
the only surviving child of his first wife, returned with his father to 
Jura, and there lived and reared a family. One of his (Gilbert's) 
sons, Alexander, married Flora McLean, and reared four sons and 
four daughters, and when his eldest son Gilbert was sixteen years 
of age, removed to America, and settled in Cumberland county, 
on the Cape Fear. Some of the descendants of Kenelh Clark, 
half brother of Gilbert, came to America. From this stock arose 
numerous families in the south and west. 
^ When Alexander Clark emigrated to America, he paid the pas- 
sage of many poor emigrants, and gave them employment till the 
price was repaid. Many companies of Scotchmen came to Ame- 
rica in a similar way, some person of property paying their 
passage, and giving them employ upon their lands until they werci 
able to set up for themselves. 

Could the history of families be traced out with certainty, there 
is little doubt that vague traditions of sufferings and trials from 
the hands of the Catholics, would prove to have been derived from 
as sad realities as are found in the family of the Clarks. Almost 
without exception these Scotchmen were Presbyterians, who held 
the Confession of Faith, the Solemn League and Covenant, and the 
Form of Government and Discipline now in use in Scotland. And 
for their creed they were willing to suffer ; for, as little as liberty 
of conscience was understood at that time, the Scotch had found 
that yielding their religious creed to authority was giving up them- 
selves to hopeless tyranny ; and through many political mistakes 
they held the palladium, their Confession of Faith and Form of 
Government, with an unwavering spirit. 

More than sixty years had passed from the decisive battle of 
the Boyne, July 1st, 1690, in which the forces of James IL were 
entirely routed by William IIL, Prince of Orange, and the royal 
fugitive James took refuge in Paris, abandoning his throne to his 
rival, when his grandson Charles Edward began to make pre- 
parations for a descent upon England. From his very cradle he 
was inspired with an unquenchable desire to regain the throne of 
his ancestors ; of this he talked by day and dreamed by night, 
and in his delusive plan was encouraged by the thoughtless and 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE FEAR. l27 

the imaginative, till he came to believe that the principal men in 
the kingdom were discontented whh the reigning house of Han- 
over, and desirous of seeing a male descendant of the house of 
Stuart on the throne. After much solicitation he obtained some 
encouragement from the, King of France, but no public acknow- 
ledgment either of the present enterprise or the validity of his 
claim. On the 16th of July, a day remarked by some as fatal to 
his family, in 1745, he landed on the coast of Lochaber, in Scot- 
land, with some money, a few stands of arms, and scarce an at- 
t{?ndant, relying on the national feelings of the Scotch, whom he 
expected to rally around his standard. Of the rising in his favor, 
or rebellion against the constituted authorities of the kingdom, 
which followed, an account may be found in any extended history 
of England or of Europe, sufficient to satisfy a general reader. 
The Pretender to the crown of England, Prince Charles Edward, 
soon discovered that while the Scotch loved his family from their 
hearts, as their own royal house, the Lowlanders had become so 
attached to the reigning house, or satisfied with their government, 
that no solicitations could engage them in a hasty rebellion against 
George II. ; and that among the Highlanders, the most powerful 
chiefs were either so connected with the government as to be alto- 
gether averse to any attempt to shake its peace and security, or 
were so convinced of its stability as to consider any efforts to 
regain the crown to their own royal house but a feeble rebellion. 
The head of the Makenzies, and aiso the head of the McLeods, 
were members of parliament ; the head of the McDonalds, the 
strongest and most numerous of the clans that had favored the 
father and grandfather of Prince Charles Edward, was entirely 
opposed to a rising, or insurrection, or rebellion, having no hope 
of final success. In their view neither time nor circumstance 
was propitious ; nor were they prepared to say that any govern- 
ment they might hope for, under the house of Stuart, would be 
more favorable to Scotland and the united kingdom than the do- 
minion of the reigning family. 

Lord Lovat declared for him, and with him were united some 
of the feebler noblemen ; some of the smaller clans in the High- 
lands unanimously raised the standard for the Pretender ; and 
many of the young men of the clans of the McDonalds, the 
McLeods, the Makenzies, and others whose leaders would not 
favor the enterprise, gave way to the impulse of national enthusi- 
asm and chivalric enterprise, and joined his ranks. For a time it 
is well known that he was successful, and on his march towards 



128 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the capital of the kingdom, spread terror through the country, and 
struck alarm in the cabinet of King George, Whether his success 
had reached its boundary and necessarily subsided into misfortune 
and calamity, or whether his delays and revelries wasted the 
golden hours of enterprise, and suffered the rising enthusiasm of the 
nation, warmed for a young prince claiming his ancestors' throne, 
to grow cool, his tide of success soon changed, and he retired, 
whether wisely or unwisely, first to the borders of Scotland, and 
then to the northern part, and took possession of Inverness, 
The disposition to declare for their royal house was spreading in 
Scotland, and could he have maintained his post in England, or 
have delayed a battle for a time, the mass of the nation would 
have taken arms in his cause. On the 16th of April, 1746, he 
fought, a few miles north of Inverness, against the Duke of Cum- 
berland, the disastrous battle of Culloden ; and with his defeat 
his hopes of empire vanished. Dismissing his followers, whose 
hopes and courage were better than his own, he wandered a fu- 
gitive among the mountains and crags, and, never again rallying 
his forces, sought his safety in secresy and flight. 

His followers were taken captive in great numbers ; three no- 
blemen, after summary trial, perished on the scaffold ; one of them. 
Lord Lovat, in his eightieth year, exclaiming with his latest breath, 
" Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," The English army rav- 
aged with fire and sword all that part of Scotland that had favored 
the prince. The men were hunted down like wild beasts, and 
shot on the smallest resistance ; the huts were burned over the 
heads of the women and children, and the cattle and provisions 
were carried away or destroyed. The very appearance of rebellion, 
and in many places even of population itself, M^as extinguished in 
the Highlands before the Duke of Cumberland returned to London. 
Yet in all this misery of the people, and the keen scrutiny of the 
soldiers, the prince finally escaped. In his wanderings he experi- 
enced all the variety of dangers and hair-breadth escapes that can 
be imagined from the efforts of a chivalrous young man whose 
greatest errors and misfortunes had sprung from the success of his 
gallantry among the ladies of his court and country, — and a people 
rough and untutored, but loyal to a proverb, and though poor, too 
staunch to be bribed by the offer of £30,000 to deliver up the 
fugitive whose hiding-places were known to many and could easily 
be guessed at by multitudes. During the five months of his wan- 
derings, no less than fifty individuals were in possession of his 
person, many of whom had been opposed to the rising in his favor. 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE FEAR. 129 

from the conviction of its uselessness, and had suffered themselves 
to be drawn into the rebeUion by the enthusiasm of their nation 
for their ov^rn royal house. 

Many pleasing instances of heroic devotion to the prince in his 
misfortunes are related to the everlasting honor of the Highlands. 
Immediately after the battle of Culloden, he took refuge in Ross- 
shire ; and to save him from the hot pursuit of the soldiers, his 
adherents and friends not only fought, but suffered themselves to 
be slain that he might escape. One gentleman, always known as 
opposed to the rebellion, being apprehended for aiding him in his 
necessity, pleaded before his judges — " I only gave liim what nature 
seemed to require, a night's lodging and an humble repast. And 
w^ho among my judges, though poor as I am, would have sought 
to acquire riches by violating the rights of hospitality in order to 
earn the price of blood ?" This generous plea gained him his dis- 
mission with applause. Another by the name of Kemiedy, who 
often exposed his life for his prince, and though poor, despised the 
large reward offered for betraying the royal fugitive, was some 
time after seized at Inverness and executed on the charge of steal- 
ing a cow. At the place of his execution he pulled off his bonnet, 
and looking round upon the assembly, exclaimed, " I give most 
hearty thanks to Almighty God that I never proved false to an en- 
gagement of any kind ; that I never injured a poor man ; and never 
refused to share whatever I had with the stranger and those in 
want." 

On the return of the army under the Duke of Cumberland, a 
large number of prisoners were taken along, and after a hasty trial 
by a military court, publicly executed. Seventeen suffered death 
at Kennington Common, near London ; thirty-two were put to 
death in Cumberland ; and twenty-two in Yorks^iire. This was 
probably done by way of vengeance and alarm. But kinder 
thouglits prevailed with his Majesty George II. ; and a large num- 
ber were pardoned, on condition of their emigrating to the planta- 
tions, after having taken the solemn oath of allegiance. This is 
the origin of the large settlements of Highlanders on Cape Fear 
River. '. For a large number who had taken arms for the Pretender, 
preferred exile to death, or subjugation in their native land ; and 
during the years 1746 and 1747, with their families and the fami- 
lies of many of their friends, removed to North Carolina and settled 
along the Cape Fear River, occupying a large space of country of 
which Crosscreek, afterwards Campbelton, now Fayettevillc, was 
the centre. Probably the repoit from those who had settled along 



130 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

this river, of the mild winters, the open forests, the abundant cane- 
brakes and wild grass, turned the attention of these emigrants to 
this part of America, where lands were abundant and cheap. Per- 
haps, too, the royal authority was exerted in fixing a location for 
the pardoned exiles, that Carolina might have a hardy race of 
industrious people to occupy her waste lands, increase her popula- 
tion and her revenue to the royal coffers. This wilderness become 
a refuge to the harassed Highlanders ; and shipload after ship- 
load landed at Wilmington in 1746 and 1747. The emigration 
once fairly begun by royal authority and clemency, was carried on 
by those who wished to improve their condition, and become 
owners of the soil upon which they lived and labored ; and in the 
course of a few years large companies of industrious Highlanders 
joined their countrymen in Bladen county. North Carolina. Their 
descendants are found in the counties of Cumberland, Bladen, 
Sampson, Moore, Robeson, Richmond and Anson, all of which 
were included in Bladen at the time of the first emigration ; and 
are a moral, religious people, noted for their industry and economy, 
perseverance and prosperity ; forming a most interesting and im- 
portant part of the State. Their present descendants are to be i 
found everywhere in the South and West. ^ 

The religious principles of these emigrants have been better 
known and more generally understood, and better expressed, by 
writers of American history, whether sectional or general, than 
those of the people who took possession of the upper country, and 
acted so nobly in the Revolution ; and better, perhaps, than those 
of any other section of the State in its earlier years. The religion 
of the Scotch Church is known to the world ; it is the religion of 
the nation. The religion of Ireland is part Protestant and part 
Papist ; the predominant being of the Church of Rome, and the 
Protestant being divided between the Presbyterian and the Church 
of England. To say a company of emigrants are from Ireland 
does not decide either the political or religious creed ; to say they 
are from Scotland, in general, decides both. In the former case 
we inquire for their birth-place and their creed ; in the latter, 
we take it for granted we know what their creed is, unless we arc 
warned to the contrary. 

From the time of the introduction of the Christian religion into 
Scotland the bias of the national mind has been to the creed and 
forms of Presbytery. The Culdees were to all intents and pur- 
poses Presbyterians ; they held strenuously to the parity of the 
x^lergy ; had but one ordination ; and governed the Church by a 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE FEAR. 131 

Council of Presbyters. Popery for a time did obtain the ascend- 
ency in Scotland, all the time struggling against the spirit of the 
nation that demanded independence in religion. But from the time 
of John Knox, there has been no doubt respecting the religious 
forms or the creed desired by the great body of the people. The 
National Covenant adopted and signed publicly in 1638, and re- 
peated afterwards, and the Confession of Faith, which has been 
used now more than two hundred years by the Presbyterians in 
Scotland, England, and Ireland, and about a century and a half in 
America, leave no doubt what their views of church government, 
church order, and belief, were. Tlie fact that many of them had 
borne arms for the Pretender, a Papist sent over by the instigation 
of the Pope and his adherents, for the purpose of introducing 
Popery once more into England, is easily and very truly accounted 
for on other feelings and principles than any sympathy in reli- 
gious belief, of wliich it is known there was none. 

No minister of religion accompanied the first emigrants in 1746 
and 1747; nor is it known that any came with any succeeding 
company till jhe year 1770, when the Rev. John McLeod came 
direct from Scotland and ministered to them for some time, though 
he was not the first preacher. This fact, that no minister of reli- 
gion came with these people, many of whom were pious, and all 
of whom were accustomed to attend on public worship, cannot 
easily be accounted for ; and it had an unhappy effect upon the emi- 
grants and upon their children. Without public ministrations of 
the ordinances of the gospel a sense of religion will soon begin to 
pass away from the public mind ; and the fire will be kept burning 
only on here and there a private altar. The wonder is that in the 
circumstances of these colonists the sense of rehgion was so well 
maintained under the ministrations and labors of one solitary 
preacher, James Campbell, who pursued his laborious course alone 
among the outspreading neighborhoods in what is now Cumberland 
and Robeson, from 1757 to 1770. 

This worthy evangelist, the Rev. James Campbell, was born in 
Campbelton, on the peninsula of Kintyre, in Argyleshire, Scotland. 
Of his early history little is known ; and too little has been pre- 
served of his pioneer labors in later life. About the year 1730 he 
emigrated to America, a licensed preacher in the Presbyterian 
Church, and landed at Philadelphia. He soon became connected 
with a congregation of Scotch emigrants somewhere in Pennsyl- 
vania, and labored in the ministry with them for a time. His mind 
became clouded, and his heart full of fears, on the subject of his 



132 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

call to the ministry, and even of his own personal piety ; and he 
ceased to perform the duties of a minister, believing that it was 
wrong for him to preach. In this state of mind he heard the fa- 
mous Whitefield preach, as he was traversing the country, and 
sought an interview with him. This eminent servant of God heard 
him state his case, removed most of his difficulties, and encouraged 
him to resume his ministry. He labored for a time in Lancaster ■ 
county, on the Coneweheog, where the Rev. Hugh McAden visited 
him, as is recorded in his journal. His attention being turned to 
his countrymen on the Cape Fear, Mr. Campbell emigrated to 
North Carolina in the year 1757, and took his residence on the left 
bank of the Cape Fear, a few miles above Fayetteville, nearly 
opposite to the Bluff church. 

For a long time he held his Presbyterial connection with a 
Presbytery in South Carolina, which was never united with the 
Synod of Philadelphia. About the year 1773 his connection with 
Orange Presbytery was formed, and in that connection he con- 
tinued till his death in the year 1781. Mr, Campbell left behind 
him no papers or memoranda from which anything can be gleaned 
respecting his religious exercises, or ministerial labors ; but he 
has left traditions which sprung from the experience of the people 
of his charge, that he was a zealous laborious man, who never 
wearied in his work, from the time he came to Carolina, but spent 
his days in affectionate and unremitting efforts to bring men home 
to God through Christ. His labors had no bounds but his strength. 
It is probable that, for a time, he supplied the Scotch population 
at the rate of a Sabbath once in three or four to a neighborhood, 
the people going in many instances a long distance to attend the 
ministrations of the sanctuary, and glad to hear, even at distant 
intervals, the gospel of Christ. 

It would be greatly gratifying to the church and the public 
generally could some pages of history, formed from the accredited 
doings of this laborious minister, be presented to the world. But 
for want of documents less place is given than his memory de- 
serves. God has been pleased to leave much of his doings covered 
up from posterity, to be revealed when the veil is taken off from 
all things. 

His preaching places appear to have been three, for regular 
congregations, on the Sabbath, besides occasional and irregular 
preaching, as the necessities of the country required. For ten or 
twelve years he preached on the southwest side of the river below 
the Bluff, in a meeting-house near Roger McNeill's, and called 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE FEAR. 133 

" Roger's meeting-house." Here Hector McNeill (commonly 
called Bluff Hector) and Alexander McAlister, acted as Elders. 
After the death of Mr. Campbell, and about the year 1787, the 
"Bluff Church" was built, and Duncan McNeill (of the Bluff, 
Hector being dead) and Alexander McAlister, and perhaps others, 
officiated as Elders. 

Soon after his removal to Carolina, Mr. Campbell commenced 
preaching at Alexander Clark's, and continued his appointments 
for a number of years. About the year 1746, John Dobbin, who 
had married the widow of David Alexander in Pennsylvania, and 
had resided in Virginia, near Winchester, about a year, removed 
to Carolina ; and, while the Alexander families that came with him 
took their abode on the Hico or the Yadkin, he fixed his residence 
on the Cape Fear, somewhat against the inclinations of his wife 
and step-daughter. The situations on the river being esteemed 
less healthy than those more remote, Mr. Dobbin and others took 
their abode on Barbacue ; and about the year 1758 Mr, Campbell 
began to preach at his house, and continued so to do till the 
''Barbacue Church" was built, about the year 1765 or 1766. 
The first Elders of this church were — Gilbert Clark, eldest son 
of Alexander Clark, and step-son of John Dobbin (having married 
Ann Alexander), one of the first magistrates of Cumberland 
county, under the Colonial Government, — Duncan Buie, who early 
in the Revolutionary war removed to the Cape Fear River, nearly 
opposite the Bluff Church, — Archibald Buie of Green Swamp, — 
and Daniel Cameron of the Hill. These men were pious, and 
devoted to the cause of religion and their duties as Elders ; and 
for their strict attention to their duties got the name of " the little 
7ninisters of Barbacue." The congregation, like the others under 
the care of Mr. ^Campbell, were trained in the old Scotch fashion 
of reading the Bible, attending church when practicable, and repeat- 
ing the Catechism; and were accustomed to follow the minister 
in his proof texts. It was of this congregation the Rev. John 
McLeod said, " he would rather preach to the most polished and 
fashionable congregation in Edinburgh than to the little critical 
carls of Barbacue." Not that they were so particularly captious 
about his manner and delivery, for he was esteemed an eloquent 
man, but they were so well-informed on the doctrines and usages 
of the church, that it required great particularity in his sermons 
to avoid their criticism. The kind of sermons demanded by that 
people might now seem novel or antiquated, but would be found 
full of instruction ; and even their length would be no objection in 



134 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

congregations that can hear the gospel but once in a month or six 
weeks. 

Barbacue church was the place of worship of Flora McDonald, 
while she lived at Cameron's Hill, and though the congregation is 
less extended and flourishing than in former years, it is still in 
existence. May it revive and flourish ! 

Mr. Campbell also began to preach soon after his coming to 
Carolina, at McKay's, now known as Long Street, one of the 
places visited by Mr. McAden in his first journey through Caro- 
lina. A church was built about the year 1765 or '66, the time at 
which Barbacue was built. The first elders were Malcom Smith, 
Archibald McKay, and Archibald Ray. This congregation is still 
in existence, and though much curtailed in extent and numbefs, 
flourishes. 

These three congregations were the principal places of Mr. 
Campbell's preaching, and for a time accommodated the gi-eater 
part of the Scotch settled in Cumberland. As the emigration 
continued new neighborhoods were formed, and the limits of these 
congregations contracted : and one after another the numerous 
churches in Cumberland, Robeson, Moore and Richmond, and 
Bladen, were gathered, some of which now surpass in numbers 
these ancient mothers. 

At the time Mr. Campbell labored in Cumberland, the larger 
number of the people used the Gaehc language ; some could use 
both that and the English ; and there were some Lowland Scotch, 
and a few Scotch-Irish families, and some Dutch that could not 
use the Gaelic : divine service was therefore performed in both 
languages. Mr. Campbell, to accommodate his hearers, preached 
two sermons each Sabbath, one in English and one in Gaelic ; 
this he did in all three of his churches. In a few congregations, 
in the Presbytery of Fayetteville, this practice of preaching in the 
two languages is still continued. The influence of this language 
has been great upon the Scotch settlements in Carolina. There 
have been some disadvantages attending it, and the language is 
fast passing away. But for a long time it was a bond of union, 
and a preservation of those feelings and principles peculiar to the 
Scotch emigrants, many of which ought to be preserved for ever. 
The change has been so gi-ad\ial in putting off" the Gaelic, and 
adopting the English, that the people of Cumberland liave suflfered 
as little, from a change of their language, as any people that have 
ever undergone that unwelcome process. They have retained the 



SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTCH ON RIVER CAPE PEAR. 135 

faith and habits of their ancestors, things most commonly thrown 
away or changed by a change of the common dialect. 

Mr. Campbell, for a few years, had an assistant in the ministry. 
The Rev. John McLeod came from Scotland some time in the 
year 1770, accompanied by a large number of families from the 
Highlands, who took their residence upon the upper and lower 
Little Rivers, in Cumberland county. Barbacue and Long Street 
were part of the places in which he preached during the three 
years he remained in Carolina. In the year 1773, he left Ame- 
rica with the view of returning to his native land ; being never 
heard of afterwards, it is supposed that he found a watery grave. 
He was a man of eminent piety, great worth, and popular elo- 
quence. 

With this exception it is not known that he had any mmisterial 
brother residing in Cumberland, or the adjoining counties, that 
could assist him in preaching to the Gaels. McAden, who 
preached in Duplin, could give him no assistance where the lan- 
guage of the Highlanders was the vernacular tongue. 

How the congregations of the Scotch maintained so much of a 
spirit of piety and true religion, can be accounted for on no other 
principles, than the pious, devoted labors of Mr. Campbell and his 
elders, accompanied by the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The 
children were taught the catechism, and called to frequent exami- 
nations by the church officers ; and the Bible was much read ; 
and family religion very generally maintained. These forms were 
kept up even after the spirit of godhness had much decayed, in 
the old age of Mr. Campbell, and by the confusion and strifes and 
bloodshed of the Revolution, which were felt in all their terrors 
on the Cape Fear. 

Since the Revolution the congregations of the Scotch have been 
much better supplied with ministers than previously ; but it is 
doubtful whether family government and religion are as carefully 
attended to now as in former days. One reason of the small 
supply of ministers, before the Revolution, may have been in the 
fact, that the emigrants, while in Scotland, had been accustomed 
to the division of the country into parishes by the civil authority, 
and the collection of the ministers' support by law, in some pa- 
rishes having a qualified voice in the choice of their pastor, and 
in others possessing no right of choice worth naming. Li Carolina, 
all interference of law was to divide the county into parishes for 
the establishment of the English National Church, to which these 
emigrants were greatly averse. After the revolutionary war, 



136 " SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

necessity led the Scotch to voluntary efforts for the siip^Dort of their 
ministers, and these efforts were attended with success ; and their 
descendants enjoy gospel privileges in as high a degree as any 
section of the southern and western States, The Scotch-Irish 
had been more accustomed to these efforts in Ireland, being left to 
provide for their own ministers by voluntary gifts, after they had 
paid what the law required for the national clergy. They were 
more active in Carolina, before the Revolution, than the Scotch ; 
after that event, the efforts of both are worthy of high commen- 
dation. 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 137 



CHAPTER XL 

THE POLITICAL OPINIONS OF THE SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 

The Scotch, never, in the land of their fathers, or in the United 
States of America, have been inclined to radicalism, or the prostra- 
tion of all law. In their warmest aspirations for the liberty of 
choosing their own rulers, or framing, or consenting to the laws, by 
which they should be governed, they always acknowledged the ne- 
cessity of law and order ; in fact, they never asked for anything 
else. The general run of Scottish history shows the nation to have 
been in favor of a government of sufficient strength to control its 
subjects in the exercise of their passions, and defend them from 
aggression and violence. 

They have ever been strenuous that their rulers should govern 
according to some established law, well known and understood, to 
which reference should be had in cases of dispute among themselves, 
or with their rulers ; and to the decision of this law, fairly inter- 
preted, there should be no opposition while the law was unrepealed. 

They contended that there is of necessity an agreement between 
the rulers and the people, the one, to govern by these fixed laws, 
and the other, to obey the directiona given by the constituted au- 
thorities, n 

They ever contended that there is a conscience towards God, 
paramount to all human control ; and for the government of their 
conscience in all matters of morality and religion, the Bible is the 
storehouse of information, — acknowledging no Lord of the consci- 
ence, but the Son of God, the head of the Church, Jesus Christ ; 
and the Bible as his divine communication for the welfare and 
guide of mankind. 

They have held that tyranny and usurpation may be set aside by 
force ; that, in extreme cases, revolution by force is the natural 
right of man ; not a revolution to throw down authority, and give 
license to passion, but a revolution to first principles, and to the 
unalienable rights of man. 

On these principles, they formed their various Covenants. The 
first made m 1557, Dec. 3d, and the second on 31st of May, 1559 j 
in both of which the leading men, and many others, bind themselves 



138 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

to maintain their religion against all opposition from any and every 
quarter. The first National Covenant of Scotland was drawn up 
by John Craig, and sometimes has been called Craig's Confession ; 
was publicly owned and signed by the king himself, his household, 
and the greater part of the nobility and gentry, throughout the 
kingdom, in 1581 ; the signing of it being greatly promoted 
through the country by the ministers of religion. The same cove- 
nant, with many additions, was publicly signed, with great solem- 
nity, by the people in Edinburgh, Feb. 28th, 1638. By this, they 
all bound themselves to preserve, at all hazards, their religious 
rights and Uberties against opposers. And finally, the Solemn 
League and Covenant, drawn up by Alexander Henderson, and 
read by him in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 
on the 17th of August, 1643, and was received and approved, with 
emotions of the deepest solemnity and awe, with whispered thanks- 
givings and prayers. It was then carried to the Convention of 
States, and by them unanimously ratified ; subsequently, it was 
sent to London, where, on the 25th Sept. of the same year, it was 
accepted and subscribed by the English Parliament and the Assem- 
bly of Westminster Divines ; and afterwards carried over to Ireland, 
and taken generally, by the congregations of Presbyterians, in 
Ulster province. The services attending the signing of this import- 
ant instrument were solemn and protracted, not only in Scotland, 
but in England and in Ireland. 

This Solemn League and Covenant, so generally taken, bound 
the United Kingdoms to endeavor the preservation of the Reformed 
Religion in the Church of Scotland, in doctrine, discipline, and 
government, — and the Reformation of Religion in England and 
Ireland according to the Word of God, and the example of the best 
reformed Churches, — the extirpation of Popery and Prelacy, — the 
defence of the King's person, authority, and honor, — and the pre- 
servation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the 
kingdom, in peace and -quietness. Hetherington, a writer of note, 
in his History of the Church of Scotland, thus writes : " Perhaps 
no great international transaction has ever been so much misrepre- 
sented and maligned, as the Solemn League and Covenant. Even 
its defenders have often exposed it, and its authors, to severe cen- 
sures, by their unwise mode of defence. There can be no doubt in 
the mind of any intelligent and thoughtful man, that on it mainly 
rests, under Providence, the noble structure of the British constitu- 
tion. But for it, so far as man may judge, these kingdoms would 
have been placed beneath the deadening bondage of absolute despot- 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 139 

ism ; and in the fate of Britain, the liberty and civiUsation of the 
world would have sustained a fatal paralyzing shock. This con- 
sideration alone might be sufficient to induce the statesman to 
pause, before he ventures to condemn the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant. But to the Christian, we may suggest still loftier thoughts. 
The great principles of that sacred bond are those of the Bible 
itself. It may be that Britain was not then, and is not yet, in a fit 
state to receive them, and to make them her principles and rules of 
national government and law ; but they are not, on that account, 
untrue, nor even impracticable : and the glorious predictions of the 
inspired Scriptures foretell a time when they will be more than 
realized, and when all the kingdoms of this earth shall become the 
kingdoms of Jehovah, and of his anointed, and all shall be united in 
one solemn league and covenant under the King of Kings and Lord 
of Lords. And who may presume to say that the seemingly pre- 
mature and ineffectual attempt to realize it by the heavenly-minded 
patriarchs of Scotland's second Reformation, was not the first faint 
struggling day -beam piercing the world's thick darkness, and reveal- 
ing to the eye of faith an earnest of the rising of the Sun of Right- 
eousness? A sacred principle was then infused into the heart of na- 
tions which cannot perish ; a light then shone into the world's dark- 
ness which cannot be extinguished ; and generations not remote may 
see that principle quickening and evolving in all its irresistible 
might, and that light bursting forth in its all-brightening glory." 

" It has often been said the Covenanters were circumvented by 
the English Parliament, and were drawn into a league with men 
who meant only to employ them for their own purposes, and then 
either cast them off, or subdue them beneath a sterner sway than 
that of Charles. Were it even so, it might prove the treachery of 
the English, but would expose the Covenanters to no heavier accu- 
sations than that of unsuspecting simplicity of mind. They ought 
to have first ascertained, men say, what form of church government 
England intended to kdopt, before they had consented to the 
League. And yet the same accusers fiercely condemn the Scottish 
Covenanters for attempting to force their own Presbyterian forms 
upon the people of England. The former accusation manifestly 
destroys the latter. That the Covenanters did not attempt to force 
Presbyterianism upon England, is proved by the fact, that they 
entered into the league without any such specific stipulation, be- 
cause it was contrary to their principles either to submit to force 
in matters of religion, or to attempt using force against other free 
Christian men. It argues, therefore, ignorance both of their prin- 



140 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ciples and of their conduct, to bring against them an accusation so 
groundless and so base. They consented to lend their aid to Eng- 
land in her day of peril, in which peril they were themselves in- 
volved ; but they left to England's assembled divines the grave and 
responsible task of reforming their own church ; lending, merely, as 
they were requested, the assistance of some of their own most learned, 
pious, and experienced ministers, to promote the great and holy 
enterprise. For that they have been and will be blamed by w^it- 
lings, Sciolists and Infidel philosophers ; but what England's best 
and greatest men sought with earnest desire, and received with re- 
spect and gratitude, Scotland need never be ashamed that her vene- 
rable covenanted fathers did not decline to grant." 

" And let it be carefully observed, that the difference between the 
conduct of the English Parliament in the great civil war, and of 
the Covenanters in their time of struggle, consisted in and was 
caused by this — that in England it was essentially a contest in de- 
fence, or for the assertion of civil liberty, — in Scotland for religious 
purity and freedom, England's fierce wars for civil liberty laid her 
and her unfortunate assistant prostrate beneath the feet of an iron- 
hearted usurper and despot. Scotland's calm and bloodless defence 
of religious purity and freedom secured to her those all-inestimable 
blessings, broke the chains of her powerful neighbor, revealed to 
mankind a principle of universal truth and might, and poured into 
her own crushed heart a stream of life, sacred, immortal, and 
divine." 

The famous book Lex Rex, by Rev. Samuel Rutherford, was full 
of principles that lead to republican action, as the Scotch generally 
have understood republicanism, — to be governed by rulers chosen, 
and by laws framed according to the will of the people, — and reli- 
gious liberty untouched. 

These great principles the Scotch brought with them to America ; 
they are still held by their descendants, who differ from their parent 
stock in insisting on and enjoying the form of government, which, 
while it protects the citizens, is elective, and is executed by the 
same persons but a short time in continuance. On the other side 
of the water, the Scotch enjoy but an implied choice in their here- 
ditary monarch, and but in part that freedom of conscience, and 
that liberty from legislative interference in matters of religion, they 
aimed at in their National Covenant. 

James I. had signed the first National Covenant, and Charles 11., 
on his being crowned at Scone, by the Scotch, January 1st, 1651, 
heard the National Covenant and the solemn League and Covenant 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 141 

read, and solemnly swore to keep them both ; and when the oath 
to defend the Chmxh of Scotland was administered to him, kneeling 
and holding up his right hantl, he uttered the following awful vow : 
" By the Eternal and Almighty God, w^ho liveth and reigneth for 
ever, I shall observe and keep all that is contained in this oath." 

Now with men w^ho had felt that it was right to bind a heredi- 
tary monarch by a solemn covenant, to w-hich they bound them- 
selves, and who, in emigrating to North Carolina, had come, some 
of them of their own free will, with the expectation of enjoying 
more liberty and acquiring more property, and some on compulsion, 
to save their lives after the rebellion of 1748, and loaded WMth a 
solemn oath of allegiance as part of the conditions of pardon ; and 
in Carolina kept a part of them in ignorance of the real state of 
the country, and imposed upon by the representations of the Gov- 
ernor, in whom they trusted, — it is not at all strange there should 
be difference of opinion and action as the revolutionary struggle 
came on. Some were ready to carry out their principles at once, — 
and were republicans, doing away at once all hereditary claims to 
the throne or chair of state. Others had not felt the evils com- 
plained of in Carolina to any great degree, and were not hasty to 
enter into a contest. Others felt themselves bound to obey the 
king, to whose gove rnment and person they had taken the solemn 
oath of allegiance, as a condition of their spared lives. And some 
were so convinced that the king's forces could not be successfully 
resisted, — and from what they knew, or heard from their nation's ex- 
perience, they had some cause to fear, — that it was better to bear 
the evils they endured, than to suffer greater after a crushed rebel- 
lion. One man, William Bourk, was heard to say in the winter of 
1776, that " we should all be subdued by the month of May, by the 
king's troops ; that General Gage ought to have let the Guards out 
to Bunker Hill, and it would have settled the dispute at that time ;" 
and for this he was brought before the provincial council, March 
2d, 1776, and acknowledged his words, and added, — " he wished 
the time would happen this instant, but was sure the Americans 
would be subdued by the month of August ;" whereupon he was 
sent to Halifax and committed to close gaol till further orders. 

Those that had come to the province of their own accord, pre- 
vious to the great emigration, by authority, in 1746 and 1747: 
and many of those who emigrated afterwards, followed out their 
inclinations and their principles in taking part in the revolution ; 
— and many, perhaps most of those who came in that emigration, 
took part for the king, — feeling themselves bound by their oath of 



142 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

allegiance, and their present position, to defend the rights and do- 
minions of the crown. For a time, at least, the majority of the 
inhabitants of what was Cimaberland were in favor of the crown, 
and even disposed to assist Governor Martin, who kept them in- 
formed of the preparations made by the crow^n for the subjugation 
of the colonies ; and appealed to their sense of honor and religion 
and loyalty to rally around his standard, which, after his flight from 
Newbern on the night of April 24th, 1775, was raised at Fort 
Johnson, on the Cape Fear ; and from that removed to an armed 
vessel until the arrival of forces enabled him to take again his posi- 
tion in safety on land. 

The following paper shows that those in Cumberland who felt 
free to act for the revolution were no less spirited than those in 
Mecklenburg or any other part of the State. After the Declaration 
made by the inhabitants of Mecklenburg, the difl^erent counties 
formed what were called associations ; a paper being drawn up ex- 
pressing their sentiments on the great questions agitating the public 
mind, they subscribed their names, pledging themselves to the de- 
fence of American Liberty. Within a month a paper was circulated 
in Cumberland county, of which the following is a copy, 

" THE ASSOCIATION, JUNE 20tH, 1775. 

" The actual commencement of hostilities against the Continent, 
by the British troops, in the bloody scene of the 19th of April last, 
near Boston, in the increase of arbitrary impositions from a wicked 
and despotic Ministry, and the dread of instigated insurrections in 
the colonies, are causes sufficient to drive an oppressed people to 
the use of arms. We, therefore, the subscribers, of Cumberland 
county, holding ourselves bound by the most sacred of all obliga- 
tions, the duty of citizens towards an injured country, and thoroughly 
convinced that, under our distressed circumstances, we shall be jus- 
tified in resisting force by force, do unite ourselves under every tie 
of religion and honor, and associate as a band in her defence against 
every foe, hereby solemnly engaging, that, whenever our continental 
or provincial councils shall decree it necessary, we will go forth 
and be ready to sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure her freedom 
and safety. This obligation to continue in full force until a recon- 
ciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America, upon 
constitutional principles, an event we most ardently desire, and we 
will hold all those persons inimical to the liberty of the colonies, 
who shall refuse to subscribe to this association ; and we w'ill in all 
things ibllow the advice of our general committee respecting the 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH ExMIGRANTS. 143 

purpose aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and 
the safety of individual and private properly." 

This paper was the composition of Robert Rowan, whose name 
stands first on a long list of subscribers ; it is still in existence in 
Robeson County. The phrase, " instigated insu7'rections" in the 
above paper refers probably to a charge made against Governor 
Martin, that he favored the effort that was made for an insurrection 
of the Slaves, planned by the captain of a coasting vessel. 

The difference of opinion in Cumberland county led to much 
distress and trouble, not from the foreign foe, for the British forces 
never visited the county, except in the hasty retreat of Cornwall is 
to Wilmington, after the battle of Guilford ; but from the inhabit- 
ants themselves. Some of the most ardent Whigs in the State 
were citizens of Cumberland county, who hesitated not to give the 
Royalists much trouble. We shall not stop to dwell upon or re- 
count the plunderings, the skirmishes, and battles, the personal ren- 
counters between the two parties in Cumberland and the surround- 
ing counties, though they afforded many thrilling scenes of courage 
and of suffering ; and shall relate the circmnstances of only one 
engagement between the W^higs and Tories in the lower part of the 
State, as the consequences were of importance to the country through 
the whole war. 

Governor Martin had issued a Commission of Brigadier General 
to Donald M'Donald, a leading man among the Scotch, and perhaps 
the most influential among the Highlanders ; and had sent him a 
proclamation without date, w'hich the General might send forth at 
any time he should think it advisable, commanding all the king's 
subjects to rally around the General. On the 1st day of February, 
1776, M'Donald erected the Royal Standard at Cross Creek, and 
issued his proclamation. In a short time fifteen hundred men were 
assembled under his command, well armed and provided with proper 
military stores for a march to join the Governor at the mouth of the 
river. The celebrated Flora M'Donald, whose history will fill 
another chapter, is said to have used her influence over her clans- 
men and neighbors to join the standard of the old veteran, who had 
held a commission in the army of the Pretender, Charles Edward, 
and taken part in the battle of Culloden, in 1745, and had saved 
*his life by the oath of allegiance and emigration to Carolina, and 
was now prepared to fight for his king as his only proper sovereign 
ruler. Her husband took a Captain's commission ; and others of 
the name held commissions, and were in the camp, which was well 



144 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

supplied by contributions, and the king's money, a large amount of 
which was secured by the Whigs after the battle. 

Colonel James Moore of New Hanover, who had been commis- 
sioned by the Provincial Congress of North Carolina, in 1775, and 
had a regiment under his command of five hundred men, four hun- 
dred of whom had been stationed at Wilmington, marched, with 
his regiment, and a detachment of the New^ Hanover militia, to- 
wards Cross Creek, and fortified a camp on Rockfish River, about 
twelve miles south of M'Donald head-quarters ; and by his scouts 
and spies broke up the regular communication between the General 
and the Governor. The first move of M'Donald was towards 
Moore. Halting a few miles from his camp, he sent a decided but 
friendly letter to the Colonel, urging him to prevent all bloodshed 
by joining the royal standard ; and offering, in the name of the 
king, a free pardon and indemnification for past rebellion, — " other- 
wise he should consider them as traitors to the constitution, and 
take the necessary steps to conquer and subdue them." Moore, 
after the delay of some days, returned his answer — that he and his 
men were engaged in the most glorious cause in the w^orld, the de- 
fence of the rights of mankind, and needed no pardon ; — and urged 
the General to sign the test proposed by the Provincial Congress, 
— otherwise he might expect that treatment which he had threatened 
him and his followers. 

McDonald having in the meantime received information that Sir 
Henry Clinton and Lord William Campbell had arrived at the head- 
quarters of the Governor, determined, if possible, to avoid an en- 
gagement with Moore, and decamped at midnight, and conoLmenced 
his march to join the Governor. By rapid marches and crossing 
the Cape Fear, he eluded the pursuit of Moore, and was bending 
his course to the sea shore, intending to leave Wilmington to the left, 
when, on the third day's march, crossing the South River from Bladen 
into Hanover, he comes to Moore's Creek, which runs f)-om north to 
south, and empties into the South River about twenty miles above 
Wilmington, and finds the encampment of Cols. Alexander Lil- 
lington with the minute men of the Wilmington district, and Rich- 
ard Caswell, with the minute men of New Berne district, who 
assembled their forces on hearing of McDonald's proclamation, and 
had united their regiments, and were in search of the army of the 
Tories. 

McDonald's situation admitted of no delay ; Moore was in rapid 
pursuit, and these Colonels in front ; he determines upon an attack 
upon the forces in front. A certain individual, who claimed to be 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 145 

neutral, visited the camp of Lillington that night, and informed 
him that an attack would be made the next morning. The Colonel 
drawing up his men in a very advantageous position, to command 
both the road and the bridge, and removing the planks from the 
bridge, keeps his men under arms all night. About day, the 27th 
of February, the Scotch forces advance for battle, under the com- 
mand of Colonel. McLeod, the General himself being confined to 
his tent, too unwell to lead his forces. McLeod is speedily killed, 
and also Colonel Campbell ; and the forces of Lillington and Cas- 
well rushing on with great spirit, the forces of McDonald, deprived 
of their leaders, are thrown into confusion, and routed, and either 
taken prisoners or entirely dispersed. McDonald was found sitting 
on a stump near his tent, alone ; — and as the victorious officers 
advanced towards him, waving the parchment scroll of his commis- 
sion in the air, he delivers it into their hands. Colonel Moore 
arrived in camp a few hours after the battle was over, and his for- 
ces all came up during the day. 

By this battle the spirits of the loyalists were broken, and they 
never again were embodied in large companies till the fate of the 
war became doubtful by the movements of the army of Cornwallis. 

The Provincial Congress determined to show kindness to the 
prisoners and their families, respecting their principles, though op- 
posing their course ; and on the 29th of April published a mani- 
festo from which the following are extracts. " We have their secur- 
ity in contemplation, not to make them miserable. In our power, 
their errors claim our pity, their situation disarms our resentment. 
We shall hail their reformation with increasing pleasure, and re- 
ceive them among us with open arms. Sincere contrition and 
repentance shall atone for their past conduct. Members of the 
same political body with ourselves, we feel the convulsion which 
such a severance occasions ; and shall bless the day which shall 
restore them to us, friends of liberty, to the cause of America, the 
cause of God and mankind." 

" We war not with helpless females, whom they have left behind 
them ; we sympathize in their sorrow, and wish to pour the balm 
of pity into the wounds which a separation from husbands, fathers, 
and the dearest relations has made. They are the rightful pension- 
ers upon the charity and bounty of those who have aught to spare 
from their own necessities, for the relief of their indigent fellow 
creatures ; to such we recommend them." 

" May the humanity and compassion which mark the cause we 
are engaged in, influence them to such a conduct as may call forth 
10 



14(i SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

our utmost tenderness to their friends, whom we have in our power. 
Much depends upon the future demeanor of the friends of the insur- 
gents who are left among us, as to the treatment our prisoners may 
experience. Let them consider these as hostages for their own 
good behavior, and by their own merits make kind offices to their 
friends a tribute of duty as well as humani'ty from us, who have 
them in their power." 

The Congress granted to General McDonald and his son, who 
held a colonel's commission, a liberal parole of honor; and com- 
plimented both these officers on their candor. Some time in the 
summer, the general and twenty-five of the officers taken prisoners 
in the battle at Widow Moore's Creek Bridge, were taken to Phila- 
delphia, and held in confinement for the purpose of promoting an 
exchange of prisoners between the two armies. 

We cannot but admire the integrity of these men, though we 
lament their course ; we reverence their moral principles, while 
we deplore their mistake. We pass by their error, and glory in 
receiving and instructing others in the principles of religion and 
morality which governed these men. Their descendants are among 
the best citizens of the States, The great principles of their an- 
cestors still reign among the descendants along the Cape Fear; 
and though divided on the party questions of the day, as might be 
expected in a nation of freemen, they are united on the great prin- 
ciples of republicanism. 

The descendants of these men are altogether in favor of an en- 
lightened ministry ; and are patrons of efforts for the instruction of 
the rising generation. They are firm friends to the grand princi- 
ples of the supremaci/ of law, and yield a cheerful obedience to the 
laws of the land enacted by the legislators, chosen by freemen from 
their own body. Not given to change either in their politics or 
their friendships, they support the government of their choice ; and 
are divided only on the question respecting the powers of a repub- 
lican govermnent. 

When once it was settled, by the surrender of Yorktown, that 
monarchical government was at an end in the colonies, those along 
the Cape Fear that had felt themselves bound to support the royal 
authority while that authority could be supported, joined heartily 
with their countrymen, who had all along been struggling for the 
independence of the colonies, in preparing and adopting and de- 
fending the constitution that guards our liberties. But it is to be 
remembered that the most earnest defenders of the rights of the 
crown, along Cape I'ear, contemplated monarchy as hedged in 



POLITICAL OPINIONS OF SCOTCH EMIGRANTS. 147 

and centralled by the principles of their Solemn League and Cove- 
nant, which in due time lead all men that adopt them, to struggle 
as for life, for the liberty of conscience and freedom of property and 
person. The free church of Scotland have struggled nobly for 
the first ; one more step, and they are republicans of the American 
stamp. Martin, who knew the power of an oath over the Scotch 
on Cape Fear, used it skilfully to keep them to their allegiance. 
He saw its power in Orange and Mecklenburg, but knew not 
how to ingratiate himself with that peculiar race of people, in whose 
politics, as among the Scotch, a strong religious principle pre- 
vailed. 



148 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XIL 



FLORA M DONALD 



Among the emigrants to the Scotch settlements on the Cape 
Fear, was Flora McDonald, a name held in the highest reverence 
in the traditions of North Carolina and the Highlands of Scotland, 
though English histoiy has given her neither a name nor a place 
in her pages, crowded with the events and personages of that day, 
that no human art can save from the oblivion they deserve. With 
or without histoiy, the descendants of the Highlanders in North 
Carolina will love the name of Flora McDonald, while female ex- 
cellence can be found among their sisters and daughters. 

In those heart-stirring events that succeeded the rising in favor 
of the Pretender, and led to the emigration of the Scotch settle- 
ment on the Cape Fear river, Flora McDonald first makes her ap- 
pearance, a young and blooming girl ; in the troubles and dis- 
tresses that affected the honest yet divided Scotch in Carolina, at 
the commencement of the American Revolution, she is the digni- 
fied matron ; before the disasters and radical principles of the 
French Revolution troubled her country and employed her chil- 
ren, she was carried to the cemetery of Kilmuir. 

The most romantic escape of the Pretender, Prince Charles 
Edward, in his five months' wanderings in the Highlands of Scot- 
land, hunted from mountain to dell, from crag to cavern, by day 
and by night, by the soldiers of the Duke of Cumberland, and a 
price set upon his head as a fugitive felon, was planned and ex- 
ecuted by the McDonalds, the most powerful of whom had op- 
posed the attempt to place the Prince upon the throne, as a hope- 
less rebellion, and many of whom were bearing arms for the 
house of Hanover ; and some even then leading forces in search 
of the Royal fugitive, into the wilds and fastnesses of the High- 
lands and the Western Isles. 

Roderick Mackenzie aided the flight of the Prince by his chival- 
rous death ; Flora McDonald by her romantic spirit and womanly 
contrivance. " This young man," says one, " sought conceal- 
ment in the mountains of Ross-shire after the battle of CuUodcn, 
and was surprised by a party of soldiers sent in pursuit of Charles 
Edward. His age, his figure, his air, deceiving the military 



FLORA m'dONALD. 149 

completely, they were going to secure him, believing they had 
got hold of the true prince. Mackenzie perceiving their mistake, 
with great fortitude and presence of mind instantly resolves to 
render it useful to his master. He drew his sword, and the 
courage with which he defended himself, satisfied these soldiers 
that he could be no other than the Pretender. One of them fired 
at him ; Mackenzie fell, and with his last breath exclaimed — ' You 
have killed your Prince.' This generous sacrifice suspended for 
the time all pursuit, and afforded an opportunity for tlie unfor- 
tunate Charles to escape from the hands of his enemies." 

The escape by the aid of Flora was less bloody and more ro- 
mantic. With great difficulty he had made his way across the 
Highlands to the western shore, and setting sail in an eight-oared 
boat from the farm of Arasag, after encountering a most furious 
storm, such as are frequent on that northern sea, when, in the 
language of Ossian, " The thunder of the skies, as a rock, 
penetrated the heavens, and a fiery pillar issued from the black 
cloud," he landed on one of the western islands, South Uist, and 
found a shelter for a time at Ormaclet, with Laird McDonald, of 
Clan Ronald. The keen scent of his pursuers at length traced 
him to this place, and three thousand soldiers, red coats as they 
were called, were sent to search the island, through every dell, 
and rock, and crag, and cottage ; and armed vessels were station- 
ed all around to intercept every ship or boat that might attempt to 
leave the shore and convey away the royal fugitive. Many pro- 
jects for his escape were proposed by his anxious friends, and laid 
aside in rapid succession. At length Lady McDonald suggested 
a romantic plan, — that, arrayed in female clothes, he should ac- 
company a lady as her waiting woman, or servant maid. Two 
difficulties were to be encountered ; what lady would engage in 
the dangerous, though romantic enterprise ? and how should they 
obtain a passport from the hostile officers for such a company to 
leave the island ? Two young ladies in the house of McDonald 
were appealed to, but their courage was less than their tenderness. 

At this critical time, who should come to the house of Laird 
McDonald but the kind and beautiful Flora, from Millburg, in the 
same island, to visit her relations, on her return from Edinburgh, 
having just completed her education in that metropolis. The father 
of this accomplished young lady had been some time dead, and 
her mother was united in marriage with Captain Hugh McDonald, 
the one eyed; the son of Samuel, the son of great James, the son 
of young Blue Donald, of Armadale, in the Isle of Skye. Her 



150 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Step-father, Capt. Hugh McDonald, was then in Uist, in command 
of a company of the clan McDonald, in the service of King 
George, searching for the Prince. 

The peculiar feelings of the Scotch towards the Royal family 
of their nation is beautifully exhibited in the occurrences connect- 
ed with that young lady's visit. While these McDonalds could 
not take arms to place the prince upon the throne, esteeming the 
effort madness, and were defending the reigning house of Hano- 
ver, and even then in arms in search of Charles, hemmed in 
among the crags of Uist, they could not find it in their heart to 
seize him, now in their power, though some of them were so 
pressed with debt that the large reward offered might have been 
a temptation, and the fines and confiscations that would follow sus- 
picion of their favor for the Pretender, might have been a suffi- 
cient reason to hold them back from any effort for his escape. 
" Will you," says the lady of Laird McDonald to Flora, after 
making her acquainted with the presence and hiding-place of the 
Prince on the island, and the plan she was meditating for his 
escape, " will you expose yourself to this danger to aid the escape 
of the Prince from his enemies that have him here enclosed ?" The 
maiden answered, " Since I am to die, and can die but once, I 
am perfectly willing to put my life in jeopardy to save his Royal 
Highness from the danger which now besets him." Delighted 
with this response, the lady opened the matter to an officer named 
O'Neill, who expressed the same romantic desire to aid the escape 
of the very man for the apprehension of whom he was then in 
arms. He accompanied Flora to Carradale, a rocky, craggy, wild, 
sequestered place, where the Prince lay concealed, in a cave, that 
they might concert with him the details of the plan of his escape. 
On entering the cave they found the Prince alone, broiling a small 
fresh fish upon the coals for his lonely repast. Startled at their 
approach, and supposing his retreat had been discovered by the 
soldiers, and escape to be hopeless, he put himself on the defence 
to sell his life as dearly as his dignity required. The gallant 
young officer and the beautiful lady do him reverence as a prince. 
At their kind salutations his alarm gives place to astonishment ; 
and the unfolding of the plan for his escape from his desperate 
condition, filled his heart with unmeasured delight. After a short 
interview. Flora left him, and calling on her brother at Millburg, 
finds a youth, Neill McDonald, the son of Hector, as noble, gen- 
erous, and romantic as herself, who entered with devotion into the 
plan for the escape of the Prince, in whose company she returns 



FLORA m'dONALD. 151 

to Ormaclet, to complete the preparations for the departure from 
the island. 

The most important step was to procure a passport from the 
island, that might protect them from the search of officers, and 
detention by the vessels on the coast. Flora at length obtained 
one from her step-father. Captain Hugh McDonald, for herself, 
her youthful companion Neill McDonald, and three others, to con- 
stitute a boat's crew, and also for her serving maid, Betsey 
Burke, a stout Irishwoman, whom Flora pretended she had en- 
gaged for the special purpose of becoming her mother's spinster, 
at Armadale, in Skye. As the Captain gave the passport, and 
wrote by Flora a letter recommendatory of Betsey Burke as a 
spinster, it is conjectured, not without reason, that he was not 
altogether unaware of the designs of his fair step-daughter, though 
he wisely kept himself in ignorance. 

While the arrangements were in progress for this visit of Flora 
to her mother, in Skye, Allan McDonald, of the hill, arrived at 
Ormaclet with a company of soldiers in search for the Prince, 
without any particular suspicions that the fugitive was near, or 
any thought that his fair kinswoman was concerting a plan of 
escape which his presence might particularly discommode. There 
was now no time to be lost. Flora, hastening to his hiding-place, 
clothes the Prince in the attire of an Irish serving woman, and on 
the afternoon of Saturday, the 28th of June, 1746, the party em- 
bark from Uist for the isle of Skye. Soon after they launch forth, 
there comes upon them a furious storm of wind. Tossed to and 
fro, and driven about all night, the courage of the maiden never 
forsakes her ; anxious for her charge, rather than for herself, she 
encourages the men not to turn back. Inspirited by the exhorta- 
tions of the maiden, the oarsmen exert their utmost strength, and 
surmounting all the dangers of the tempest, at dawn of day they 
approach Point Vatermish in the Isle of Skye. As they draw 
near, however, the sight of a band of soldiers drawn up upon the 
shore to receive the boat, turns them back to the ocean ; and the 
volleys discharged at them by the soldiers hasten their flight, while 
the balls are whistling by and rebounding from the waves. Turn- 
ing eastwardly they pursue their course, and about noon, on Sab- 
bath, land at Kilbride, in the parish of Kilmuir, near the Magustat- 
house, the residence of Sir Alexander McDonald, the Laird of 
Sleite, to repose like the dove after her flight over the waters, for 
a little space, in the ark. 

Concealing the Prince in a hollow rock on the beach. Flora re- 



152 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

paired to the chieftain's mansion, and met a most cordial reception 
from Lady McDonald, in the absence of the Laird. The hall was 
full of officers, whose sole business was to search for the royal 
fugitive ; and the Laird himself was known to be hostile to his 
pretensions. The maiden, more self-possessed from the danger, 
with confiding enthusiasm makes known to the lady the hiding- 
place of the Prince, and the circumstances of his escape from 
Uist. The lady's heart answers to the maiden's confidence, and 
she espouses her cause, and sends by Alexander McDonald, the 
Laird of Kingsburg, Baillie to Sir Alexander, her husband, who 
happened to be in the house, refreshments of wine and other 
comforts suited to the necessities of the fatigued and distressed 
wanderer. By advice of Lady McDonald, who feared discovery 
from the numerous officers and soldiers then on the estate, Flora 
and Betsey Burke set out immediately for Kingsburg, about 
twelve miles distant, accompanied by the Baillie as their guide. 
On their way they met many of the country people returning from 
church, whose curiosity was much excited by the coarse, negli- 
gent, clumsy-looking, long-legged female figure that accompanied 
the Laird and the maiden. Without any indignity or suspicion 
they reached the place of their destination about sunset, wearied 
from the storm and perils of the preceding night, and the escapes 
and journeys of the day. The next morning Flora accompanied 
the Prince to Portaree, and there bid him adieu. On parting he 
kissed her, and said, " Gentle, faithful maiden, I entertain the 
hope that we shall yet meet in the Palace Royal," They never 
met again ; the hopes of the Prince were as unsubstantial and 
evanescent as the shadows of the clouds, and the fogs that rest 
upon the hills. His escape was the work not of his chivalry or 
courage, but of woman's tenderness, and the loyal feelings of 
Scottish hearts. 

From Portaree, the Prince took passage to Raarsay ; and from 
that island he went to Straith McKinnon, having for his guide a 
poor man, Malcolm McLeod, whose pack he carried as a paid 
servant, to escape observation. From thence, he took passage by 
water to Arasag, and then wandered through Arasag and Moodart 
and the roughest of the Highlands, enduring incredible hardships, 
till about the middle of autumn he found vessels to convey him 
and a few friends to France, leaving Scotland as unattended as he 
entered, hopeless of his crown, multitudes of his friends butchered, 
and others beggared or in exile, his resources all exhausted, him- 
self the scorn of France and pity of the world. With him 



FLORA m'dONALD. 153 

sailed to France Neill McDonald, who assisted in his flight from 
Uist, and had shared his fortunes during his wanderings. The 
enthusiasm of his fair kinswoman dwelt in his bosom, and spread 
itself through the youth of the Highlands, and rendered the cap- 
ture of the Prince more hopeless ; after the exploit of the maiden 
and the two ladies McDonald, who would hesitate to give him 
succor and conceal his retreat? Neill McDonald remained in 
France ; and his son became famous in the wars of the French 
Revolution, being made marshal by Buonaparte, and for his suc- 
cess created Duke of Tarentum. Had the unfortunate Charles 
Edward possessed a spirit to command, equal to the courage and 
daring of his friends, the house of Stuart might now occupy the 
throne of England. 

After the escape of the Prince to France, the troubles of Flora 
McDonald commenced. Incensed at the loss of their victim, and 
not satisfied with the possession of the kingdom, and the execu- 
tions that the plea of necessity may have justified, the officers of 
the crown seized on those who were known to have aided the 
Prince in his flight, and conveyed them to London as state pri- 
soners, for sending from the island the cause of the late disturbance, 
routed, broken down and discouraged, and at once delivering the 
crown from farther cause of uneasiness, and the country from 
agitation. Flora was arrested, and together with Malcolm Mc- 
Leod, whose pack the prince had carried, McKinnon of the 
Straith, who received him from McLeod, and McDonald of Kings- 
burg, who aided Flora on the 29th of June, were taken to London 
and confined in the Tower as prisoners of state, to be tried for 
their life, as aiding and abetting attempts against the life and 
crown of King George. The example of the young lady in 
rousing up her countrymen, however friendly to the house of 
Hanover, to promote the escape of one whom they could not, and 
perhaps on account of his religion, would not make king, turned 
the indignation of tliose who had lost the splendid reward oflered 
for the Pretender dead or alive, upon herself and her friends. 
During their confinement, the nobility of England became deeply 
interested in the beautiful and high spirited Flora, especially as she 
was not a partisan of the Pretender, nor of his religious faith. 
Her devotion to royalty, so romantically expressed, won the favor 
of Prince Frederick the heir apparent, great grandfather of Vic- 
toria, the present queen of England ; visiting her in prison, he 
became enlisted in her favor most strongly ; she awakened in his 
bosom the chivalxic gallantry she had called forth in her country- 



154 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

men ; and by his strenuous exertions he procured her release, 
greatly to his own honor and the prosperity of the kingdom, and 
the popularity of the king. 

After being set at liberty, her residence, while she remained in 
London, was surrounded by the carriages of the nobility and 
gentry, who paid their respects personally, congratulating her on 
her enterprise, her courage, her loyalty, and her release. Lady 
Primrose, a favorer of the Pretender, a lady of wealth and distinc- 
tion, introduced her to the court society, and by her example and 
influence, obtained large presents to make her forget lier captivity, 
and to meet the expenses of her detention and her return to her 
own country. The tradition hi Carolina, where she afterwards 
lived, is, that " she received golden ornaments and coin enough to 
fill a half bushel." She was introduced to the king, George IL ; 
and to his somewhat ungallant inquiry — " How could you dare to 
succor the enemy of my crown and kingdom ?" she replied 
with great simplicity — " It was no more than I would have done 
for your majesty, had you been in like situation." A chaise and 
four were fitted up for her return to Scotland ; for her escort she 
chose a fellow prisoner, Malcolm McLeod, who used afterwards 
to boast, " that he went to London to be hanged — but rode back in 
a chaise and four with Flora McDonald." 

Four years after her return to Scotland she was married to Allan 
McDonald, son of the Laird of Kingsburg, who, at the death of his 
father, succeeded to the estate and title ; and thus she became 
mistress of the very mansion in which the Prince passed his first 
night in the Isle of Skye, June 29th, 1746, after the romantic escape 
from Uist. Dr. Johnson and Mr. Boswell, in their tour to the 
Hebrides in 1773, were hospitably entertained by Allan and Flora 
McDonald, and were greatly gratified by being put to sleep in the 
same bed in which the unfortunate Charles Edward had slept the 
night he passed upon the island. Flora, though then more than 
twenty years a wife, and the mother of numerous children, still 
retained her blooming countenance and genteel form, and was full 
of the entlnisiasm of her youth. On account of the pecuniary em- 
barrassments of her husband, they were then, the doctor tells us, 
in his journal, contemplating a removal to North Carolina, to join 
tlieir countrymen and friends on the Cape Fear river, sent tliithcr 
immediately after the rebellion of 1745. From that period the 
sandy country of the Carolinas had been the refuge of the High- 
landers, wliether they fled from poverty or oppression, or were 
drawn by the desire of being independent landholders and wealthy 



FLORA m'dONALD. 155 

men. In the year 1775, just as the troubles in the American colo- 
nies were turning into rebellion against the tyranny of England, 
and the assertion of independence of all foreign control, Allan and 
Flora, with their family and some friends, landed in North Carolina 
and took their abode for a short time at Cross Creek, now Fayette- 
ville. The place of her residence was destroyed by the great fire 
that swept off a large part of the town one Sabbath in the summer 
of 182-. The ruins of this dwelling are still to be seen as you 
pass from the market-house to the court-house, on your right hand, 
just before you cross the creek, not far from the office built out 
over the stream. After a short stay in this place, they removed to 
Cameron's Hill, in the Barbacue congregation, about twenty miles 
above Fayetteville, in Cumberland county. While residing at 
this place, Mrs. Smith, now living in Robeson county, from whom 
much of the information respecting Flora was derived, remembers 
seeing her, at the Barbacue church, a dignified and handsome 
woman, to whom all paid great respect. They afterwards removed 
farther up the country into Anson county. While residing there, 
Donald McDonald, a relation of Flora's, who had been an officer 
in the Pretender's army in 1745, and had taken the oath of allegi- 
ance and emigrated to save his life, was commissioned by Governor 
Martin as general in the service of his Majesty George III. On 
the 1st of February, 1776, he issued his proclamation calling on 
all loyal and true Highlanders to join his standard at Cross Creek, 
Some fifteen hundred men soon assembled in arms ; some of whom 
were sincerely attached to the house of Hanover, and others were 
under oaths of allegiance to which they owed their life, and, as 
some believed, their property. With these were assembled Kings- 
burg McDonald, the husband of Flora, with their kindred and 
neighbors, animated by the spirit of this matron, who now, on her 
former principles, defended George III. as readily as she had aided 
the unfortunate Charles Edward about thirty years before. Tra- 
dition says she accompanied her husband and neighbors to Cross- 
wicks, and communicated her own enthusiasm to the assembled 
Scotch. From this fact it has been supposed by some, that she 
followed the army in its march to join Governor Martin at the 
mouth of Cape Fear. Mrs. Smith, however, expressly asserts that 
she did not follow the army ; but returned to her residence in An- 
son, when the army first moved up Rockfish, as it did in a short 
time, in preparation to march down the river. 

On their march down the river the forces of General McDonald 
were met by Colonels Lillington and Caswell, near the mouth of 



156 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Moore's Creek, in New Hanover, and after a severe engagement, 
on the 27th, were entirely routed and dispersed, taken prisoners or 
killed. Among the prisoners was the husband of Flora, who 
served as captain. 

After the release of her husband from Halifax jail, the place of 
confinement for the officers taken in the battle, having suffered 
much in their estate from the plunderings and confiscations to which 
the Royalists were exposed, they with their family embarked in a 
sloop of war for their native land. On the voyage home, the sloop 
was attacked by a French vessel of war ; and as the engagement 
grew warm the courage of the sailors deserted them, and capture 
seemed inevitable. Ascending the quarter deck, she animated the 
men to renew the conflict with activity and courage, nothing 
daunted by a wound she received in her hand. The sight of the 
courageous and wounded woman aroused the spirit of the crew to 
the highest pitch. Having beaten off the enemy, they landed 
Flora and the family safe on their native soil, from which she 
never again departed. She used sometimes to remark pleasantly 
on the peculiarity of her condition, " I have hazarded my life both 
for the house of Stuart and the house of Hanover ; and I do not 
see that I am a great gainer by it." 

To the close of her life she was of a gentle, affable demeanor, 
and greatly beloved ; her modesty and self-respect were blended 
with kindness and benevolence. There were none of those mas- 
culine passions and habits, or tempers, so commonly connected in 
our thoughts with acts of bravery performed by females. She was 
always womanly in her course, and always lovely. The mother 
of a numerous family, five sons and two daughters, she inspired 
them all with her spirit of loyalty and adventure ; the sons all be- 
came military officers, and were faithful to their king and country ; 
the daughters were married to military men, and maintained their 
loyalty and their honor, as true descendants of such a mother. 
Loyalty in these ladies had no servility in it ; it was a sense of the 
necessity of a firm and established government to execute laws 
for the peace of the community, and a conviction that a restricted 
monarchy was the best form of government, and that a hereditary 
was better than an elective crown. The most desolating wars 
in the history of their country had been waged by disputants for 
the crown. 

The eventful life of this amiable lady was closed March 5th, 
1790. Wc have no record of the mental and religious exercises 
of her last moments. She was educated, lived, and died in the 



FLORA m'dONALD. 157 

Presbyterian faith, the faith of the Church of Scotland ; and never 
sympathized in the religious creed of the Pretender, whose life she 
saved. It was not so much admiration of the Prince, as a charac- 
ter or a man, as the workings of her own kind heart and noble 
soul in looking upon her hereditary Prince in distress, that moved 
her to the romantic and hazardous enterprise of his escape from 
Uist. An immense concourse of people were assembled at her 
funeral ; not less than three thousand persons followed the corpse 
to the grave in the cemetery of Kilmuir, in the Isle of Skye. Ac- 
cording to a request long previously expressed, her shroud was 
made of the identical sheets in which the Prince reposed the night 
he slept at Kingsburg, — thus carrying to her grave the romantic 
spirit of her youth. 

A writer who visited the cemetery in September, 1841, says : 
" There is not so much as one of that family in tlie land of the 
living. At the end of two years the body of her husband was de- 
posited in a grave by her side, — where, alas, all her offspring now 
silently slumber. Thus is Flora McDonald, she who once was 
beautiful as the flower of the morning, now reposing beneath a 
green hillock ; and no monument, as yet, has been erected to per- 
petuate the memory of her faithfulness or her achievements ! 
Thus the beauty of the world shall pass away !" 

Though no monument be erected in England or in Scotland to 
her memory ; though no page of English history shall inscribe her 
worth, because displayed in an unpopular cause ; though from the 
time of that ill-planned and ill-fated rebellion, the whole policy of 
England towards her native country has been to annihilate the 
habits, and the very language and dress of the Highlands, and of 
her youth, her memory will live in North Carolina while nobleness 
has admirers, and romantic self-devotion to the welfare of the 
distressed can charm the heart. And will not that be for ever ? 
Will not posterity admire her more than Prince Charles who 
led his followers to slaughter? or George II., who envied the 
popularity of his own son ? and draw more instruction from her 
romance, and affection, and boldness, and devotion, and womanly 
graces, and feminine loveliness, than from all the court of Eng- 
land that fill the histories of that by-gone period ? 

Massachusetts has her Lady Arabella ; Virginia her Pocahontas ; 
and North Carolina her Flora McDonald. 



158 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



HUGH M ADEN AND THE CHURCHES IN DUPLIN, NEW HANOVER, 
AND CASWELL. 

The first ordained minister that took his abode among the Pres- 
byterian settlements in North Carohna, was the Rev. James 
Campbell, on the Cape Fear river. The first missionary whose 
journal, or parts of journal, has been preserved, is Hugh McAden 
(or as sometimes spelled McCadden), who was also the first 
missionary that settled in the State. 

The first Presbyterian minister that preached in North Caro- 
lina of whom we have any knowledge, was William Robinson, 
famous in the annals of the Virginia churches, of whom the 
Rev. Samuel Davies says, — "tKat favored man, Mr. Robinson, 
whose success, whenever I reflect upon it, astonishes me." This 
eminent missionary passed through Virginia to North Carolina, 
and spent a part of the winter of 1742 and 1743, among Pres- 
byterian settlements. It was on his return from Carolina, and 
while preaching at Cub Creek, in Charlotte county, that the mes- 
senger from Hanover county waited upon him and persuaded him 
to visit that county, in which were no settlements of Presbyterian 
emigrants, and which of course had not been included either in 
his original mission, or his intended route homeward. 

We are not able to ascertain the places with precision, which 
he visited, but as the Presbyterian settlements in the county of 
Duplin and New Hanover were the oldest in the State, and there 
were none otliers at that time of much strength, the probability 
is that Duplin and New Hanover were the pfaces he visited, and 
the scattered settlements then commenced in the upper part of 
the State also received some attention. Mr. Davies tells us that 
the success attending the ministry of this eminent man, so abun- 
dant in Virginia, was very small in Carolina. It is probably 
owing to that fact that the whole history of his mission is cir- 
cumscribed in the single statement, that he visited the country 
through much exposure, and many hardships, owing to the un- 
settled wilderness through which he had to pass. 

Supplications were sent from Carolina to the Synod of Phila- 



HUGH m'aden. 159 

delphia as early as the year 1744. The records speak of them as 
having come " from many people," but do not tell us from what 
section of the State they were sent. In the year 1753, two mission- 
aries were sent by the direction of the Synod to visit Virginia and 
North Carolina, Mr. McMordie and Mr. Donaldson ; but there is 
no mention made of the settlements they were to visit, further 
than they were " to show special regard " to the vacancies of 
North Carolina, especially betwixt Atkin (Yadkin) and Catawba 
rivers. In the year 1754 the Synod of New York directed four 
ministers, Messrs. Beatty, Bostwick, Lewis, and Thane, to visit 
the States of Virginia and North Carolina, each three months, but 
no particular places are specified. In 1755, the same Synod ap- 
pointed two other missionaries, and named some places in the 
upper part of the State ; but owing to the disturbances in the 
country from the depredations of the Indians, this mission was 
not fulfilled. 

The settlement of Presbyterians in Duplin county is probably 
the oldest large settlement of that denomination in the State. 
About the year 1736, or perhaps 1737, one Henry McCulloch 
induced a colony of Presbyterians from the province of Ulster, in 
Ireland, to settle in Duplin county. North Carolina, on lands he 
had obtained from his majesty, George II. The stipulated con- 
dition of the grant, or promised grant, was, that he should pro- 
cure a certain number of settlers to occupy the wide forests, as 
an inducement to other emigrants to -seek a residence in the un- 
occupied regions of Carolina. His son reported between three 
and four hundred emigrants, for whose introduction he retained 
about sixty-four thousand acres of land. The descendants of 
these emigrants are found in Duplin, New Hanover, and Samp- 
son counties — the family names indicating their origin. The 
Grove congregation, whose place of worship is about three miles 
southeast of Duplin court-house, traces its origin to the church 
formed from this, the oldest Presbyterian settlement in the State, 
whose principal place of worship was at first called Goshen. 

Nearer Wilmington was a settlement on what was called the 
Welch Tract, on the northeast Cape Fear. 

This was composed at first of Welch emigrants, but after a 
short period other families were located on the tract, and then 
were associated families enough to form a congregation sufficiently 
large to invite the services of a minister. 

These two settlements, one in Duplin and the other in Hanover, 
formed the field of labor in which McAden passed the first part of 



160 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

his settled ministry. As you pass rapidly on the cars from Rich- 
mond, Virginia, to Wilmington, North Carolina, after crossing the 
Tar River, and entering upon the extended sandy level that 
stretches, without an elevation of an ordinary hill, through the 
State, abounding in the species of pine that pours forth the tur- 
pentine of commerce, you enter upon the country roamed over by 
McAden, in his ministry in Duplin. Passing on, with scarce an 
elevation or a turn, through that country, and the unchanging 
groves of pines in New Hanover, till you cross the Cape Fear, 
you have measured the space allotted to him for the exercise of 
his ministry. A singular country ; the wealth of the inhabitants 
is in the endless forest of pines, and their principal employment is 
gathering the product of these forests in the shape of turpentine, 
tar, and lumber, for foreign markets. The grain and grass crops 
are a secondary consideration, and scarcely supply the home de- 
mand. The supply from the forest has hitherto been unfailing, 
abundant, and often very profitable. To one accustomed to the 
cultivated fields of western Carolina, or the more northern States, 
this countr}", in passing hastily through it in the steam cars, ap- 
pears one vast solitude. The turpentine groves present little of 
romance or beauty in their constantly recurring sameness, while 
they are pouring out streams of wealth to an industrious people. 

Hugh McAden was born in Pennsylvania ; his parentage is 
traced to the North of Ireland. His Alma Mater was Nassau 
Hall ; his instructor in Theology, John Blair, of New Castle Pres- 
bytery. He w^as graduated in 1753, and was hcensed in 1755, by 
the Presbytery to which his instructor belonged, and ordained by 
the same Presbytery in 1757 ; and dismissed in 1759 to join Han- 
over Presbytery, whose limits extended indefinitely south. Com- 
paratively little is known of his early life, as his papers were 
almost entirely destroyed by the British soldiers, in January, 1781, 
while the army of Cornwallis, in the pursuit of Green, was en- 
camped at the Red House, in Caswell county. Of the few papers 
that escaped was the Journal of his fii'st trip through Carolina, and 
is the only document of the kind known to be in existence. As 
it contains many facts, incidentally stated, that will now be useful, 
all the important and interesting parts of this brief document will 
be presented, either verbatim, or in a condensed form, leaving out 
repetitions, and things that are likely to be in a journal not intend- 
ed for the public, and which are not of lasting importance. 



HUGH m'aDEN. 161 



M ADEN S JOURNAL. 



" Tuesday, June 3d, 1755. — Took my journey for Carolina from 
Mr. Kirkpatrick's in the evening ; came to Mr. Hall's, Avherc I tar- 
ried all night. Next day crossed the river in company with Mr. 
Bay and his wife. Spent the day in visiting her friends on both 
sides," — that is, the old and new sides into which the church was 
then divided. " Thursday we set off and came to York, forty 
miles, with some difficulty, the weather being extremely hot, and 
no food for our horses. A very bad prospect of crops appears 
everywhere, the ground being quite burned up with drought, and 
the corn much hurt by the frost ; the green wheat and meadows, 
in some places, entirely withered up from the roots as if they had 
been scorched by fire. Here I left Mr. Bay and his wife, rode 
out in the afternoon and lodged in the congregation. Next day 
set off in the morning and came to his house, where I stayed for 
breakfast." This Mr. Bay was a Presbyterian minister, of New 
Castle Presbytery, of the new side, and he speaks as if it were 
remarkable that he visited both sides with Mrs. Bay. York is the 
first town mentioned ; and the bearing of his journey, and cross- 
ing " the river," would seem to fix the location of Mr. Kirkpatrick in 
Lancaster county. The mention he here makes of the great drought 
is repeated through all the summer and fall ; from which it ap- 
pears a severe drought prevailed extensively the same summer that 
Braddock's war raged so disastrously. 

The second Sabbath of June he was at Rock Spring and con- 
tinued till the Friday after ; the people making preparations to 
attend the administration of the Lord's Supper in the two congre- 
gations, that lay on each side, of one of which the Rev. James 
Campbell, who was the next year in Carolina, was the pastor. 
In this he passed the third Sabbath of June, in company with the 
pastor and the Rev. Andrew Bay, whom he says he " heard preach 
with great satisfaction." This Mr. Campbell he had for his neigh- 
bor, in Carolina, on the Cape Fear, in about a year from this ; 
the patriarch of the Scotch churches. 

"Monday, June the 16th, set out from Connegocheg, upon my 
journey for Carolina, crossed the Potomac, and lodged at Mr. 
Caten's, where I was very kindly entertained, and civilly used. 
Next day (Tuesday) set off about 12 o'clock, and came to Win- 
chester, forty miles, and tarried all night. In the morning rode 
ouf to Robert "Wilson's, where I was kindly entertained. Spent 
the day with Mr. Hogg " (or Hoge) This Mr. Wilson lived a 
II 



162 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

short distance from the present Opecquon meeting-house, and 
was proverbial for his hospitahty. His house, which is still stand- 
ing, on the east side of the great turnpike, part of stone and part 
of wood, was the resort of preachers in his day ; and during the 
time that Washington was encamped in Winchester, the resort of 
his Excellency. The Mr. Hogg, or Hogge, or Hoge, for the name 
has been spelled all these ways, had been ordained by New Castle 
Presbytery about the time that Mr. McAden was licensed. He 
was graduated at Nassau Hall, in 1748 ; how long he had been at 
Opecquon is not known. He was the first settled minister in that 
congregation, the oldest in the valley. 

On Thursday, the 19th, he set off up the valley of the Shenan- 
doah, of which he says : " Alone in the wilderness. Sometimes 
a house in ten miles, and sometimes not that." On Friday night 
he lodged at a Mr. Shankland's, eighty miles from Opecquon, and 
twenty from Augusta court-house. On Saturday he stopped at a 
Mr. Poage's — " stayed for dinner, the first I had eaten since I left 
Pennsylvania." 

From Staunton he went with Hugh Celsey to Samuel Downey's, 
at the North Mountain, where he preached on the fourth Sabbath 
of June, according to appointment, and being detained by his horse, 
preached there the fifth Sabbath also. The same cause detaining 
him another week, he consented to preach in the new court-house 
on the first Sabbath of July. " Rode to widow Preston's Satur- 
day evening, where I was very kindly entertained, and had a com- 
modious lodging." This is probably the widow of John Preston, 
whose family have since been so famous in Virginia. The North 
Mountain congregation has long since given place to Bethel and 
Hebron. On Monday he rode out to John Trimble's, more en- 
couraged by the appearances at North Mountain than in Staunton". 
On Tuesday he passed on to the Rev. John Brown's, who was 
the first settled minister of Providence and Timber Ridge.' 
" Here I was vehemently desired by Mr. Brown to preach in one 
of his places, having set apart a day of fasting and prayer, on the 
account of the wars and many murders committed by the savage 
Indians on the back inhabitants. To this I agreed, having ap- 
pointed the Forks of James River for the next Lord's day, where 
I could easily reach on Saturday. So I tarried, and preached at 
Timber Ridge on Friday, which was the day appointed, to a pretty 
large congregation ; felt some life and earnestness in alarming the 
people of their dangers on account of sin, the procuring cause of 
all evils that bcfal us in this life, or that which is to come ; en- 



• HUGH M ADEN. 163 

couraging them to turn to the Lord with all their hearts, to wait 
upon him for deliverance from all their enemies, the only sure 
refuge in every time of difficulty ; and exciting them to put them- 
selves in the best posture of defence they could, and endeavor, by 
all possible means in their power, to defend themselves from such 
barbarous and inhuman enemies. Great attention and solemnity 
appeared throughout the whole assembly ; nay, so engaged were 
they that, though there came up a pretty smart gust, they seemed 
to mind it no more than if the sun had been shining on them. 
But in a little time the Lord turned it so about that we were little 
more disturbed than if we had been in a house, 

" Came to Mr. Beyer's, where I tarried till Sabbath morning, a 
very kind and discreet gentleman, who used me exceedingly 
kindly, and accompanied me to the Forks, twelve miles, where I 
preached the second Sabbath of July, to a considerable large con- 
gregation, who seemed pretty much engaged, and very earnest 
that I should stay longer with them ; which I could by no means 
consent to, being determined to get along in [my] journey as fast 
as possible ; and proposed to preach at Round Oak next Sabbath. 
Rode home with Joseph Lapsley, two miles, from meeting, where 
I tarried till Wednesday morning. 

"■ Here it was I received the most melancholy news of the 
entire defeat of our army by the French at Ohio, the General 
killed, numbers of the inferior officers, and the whole artillery 
taken. This, together with the frequent account of fresh murders 
being daily committed upon the frontiers, struck terror to every 
heart. A cold shuddering possessed every breast, and paleness 
covered almost every face. In short, the whole inhabitants were 
put into an universal confusion. Scarcely any man durst sleep in 
his own house — but all met in companies with their wives and 
children, and set about building little fortifications, to defend them- 
selves from such barbarians and inhuman enemies, whom they 
concluded would be let loose upon them at pleasure. I was so 
shocked upon my first reading Col. Innes's letter, that I knew not 
well what to do." 

This was the defeat of Gen. Braddock. The consternation that 
followed through all the frontiers of Virginia, which were then all 
in the valley, is well described in the few lines given above. The 
difficulties and dangers increased till many of the inhabitants of 
Augusta fled to the more quiet frontiers of North Carolina, as will 
be seen in the progress of this journal. Among others who fled, 
and in a few years took his residence on Sugar Creek, was the 



164 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. ' 

Rev. Mr. Craighead, who had been some years in Virginia, re- 
siding on the cow pasture. His congregation was not in the track 
of Mr. McAden's journey, which left Mr. Craighead's residence to 
the right, and Mr. Craig's to the left. 

After much consideration whether he should remain where he 
was, or return to Pennsylvania, or go on to his destined field of 
labor in Carolina, he determined, in the fear of God, to go on. " I 
resolved to prosecute my journey, come what will, with some 
degree of dependence on the Lord for his divine protection and 
support, that I might be enabled to glorify him in all things, 
whether in life or in death, though not so sensible as I could wish 
for and earnestly desired." 

On Wednesday, the 16th of July, he left Mr. Lapsley's, in 
company v/ith a young man from Mr. Henry's congregation, in 
Charlotte, who had been at the Warm Springs, and was fleeing 
from the expected inroads of the savages. Giving up the appoint- 
ment at Round Oak, he took the route by Luny's Feny, which 
was distant about twenty-six miles — " because it was now too 
late to cross the mountain, nor did I think it quite safe to venture 
it alone : but here I thought we might lodge with some degree of 
safety, as there were a number of men and arms engaged in 
building a fort, round the house, where they were fled with their 
wives and children." 

The next day Major Smith sent a guard with them across the 
mountains ; and after riding thirty-two miles they reached Mr. 
I. Sable's, about three miles from Bedford court-house. Here 
he was out of danger from the Indians, but found the same op- 
pressive drought he left in Pennsylvania. The next day he reach- 
ed " Mr. Thomas Dickson's, at Falling River, twenty-three miles, 
a place where Mr. Henry preached once a month. The people 
insisted very much upon ray staying here till Sabbath day : as it 
was now Friday evening, it was impossible to get over to Dan River 
(which was the first vacancy I could preach at) in time to warn a 
congregation before Sabbath day, therefore I tarried and preached 
at Falling River." 

On Monday, the 21st, he rode thirty miles to the Rev. Mr. 
Henry's — " where I was much refreshed by a relation of Mr. 
Henry's success among his people, who told me of several hope- 
fully brought in by his ministry, and frequent appearance of new 
awakenings amongst them, scarcely a Sabbath passing without 
some life and appearance of the power of God. So likewise in 



HUGH M ADEN. 165 

Mr. Wright's congregation, 1 hear, there is a considerable appear- 
ance of the power of God." 

On Wednesday, 23d of July, he left Mr. Henry's, rode ten 
miles, and preached at a Mr. Cardwall's, in Halifax county, and 
passed on that night to Ephraim Hill's, five miles. The country 
was then thinly settled, and the people appeared to Mr. jVIcAden 
as sheep without a shepherd. On the next day rode twenty miles 
to Capt. Moore's, on Dan River, where he remained and preached 
the Sabbath, July 27th. On Tuesday he left Capt. Moore's, pro- 
ceeded five miles up the Dan, crossed over, and preached at Mr. 
Brandon's ; and on the same evening, riding twelve miles, came 
to Solomon Debow's on Hico, an emigrant from Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. Here he remained, and preached the first Sabbath 
of August. " Having now got within the hmits prescribed me by 
the Presbytery, I was resolved not to be so anxious about getting 
along in my journey, but take some more time to labor among the 
people, if so be the Lord might bless it to the advantage of any. 
May the Lord, of his infinite mercy, grant his blessing upon my 
poor attempts, and make me in some way instrumental in turning 
some of these precious souls from darkness unto light, and from 
the power of Satan unto God, that the power may be known to be 
of God, and all the glory redound to His own name." 

Mr. McAden was noAV out of the sphere of alarm occasioned by 
Braddock's defeat ; and he was also now beyond the southern 
bounds of any settled minister of the Presbyterian denomination 
in connection with the Synods of New York and Philadelphia. 
There were some Presbyterian churches built in North Carolina, 
and many worshipping assemblies, but few, if any, organized 
churches at this time, and no settled minister. Mr. McAden was 
of the New Side, as they were termed. This is discoverable from 
a very few sentences in his journal which occasionally appear, when 
he meets with some opposing circumstance from the other side ; 
for through Virginia and in the settlements in Carolina the differ- 
ence of opinion had spread, and the fierceness of the dispute had 
yet scarcely passed away. 

We shall follow him with interest from this first Sabbath in Caroli- 
na, August 3, 1 755, at Solomon Debow's, on Hico, through the settled 
part of the State. Some of his preaching-places can be identified, 
and others with difficulty conjectured ; as they were at private 
houses generally, or in the open air. As might be expected, some 
became permanent preaching-places, and others gave way to more 
convenient locations. 



166 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

On Tuesday, 5th, he preached at Mr. Debow's ; on Wednesday, 
rode ten miles to the chapel on South Hico, where — " I preached 
to a number of church people and some Presbyterians. After ser- 
mon they seemed exceedingly pleased, and returned abundance of 
thanks for my sermon, and earnestly entreated me by all means 
to call upon them as I came back, and showed a very great desire 
that all our ministers should call upon them as they travel back 
and forward." He went home with Mr. Vanhook, five miles, and 
preached at his house on Thursday ; and on Friday was conducted 
by Mr. Vanhook " to Eino " (Eno), about twenty miles, to a Mr. 
Anderson's. The second Sabbath of August, the 10th day, he 
preached at Eno — " to a set of pretty regular Presbyterians," who 
appeared to him to be in a cold state of religious feeling. " In the 
evening returned to Mr. Anderson's ; here I tarried till Tuesday, 
the 12tli of August ; preached again to the same company." From 
these expressions it would seem there was a house for public wor- 
ship on the Eno. 

" Being sent for, and very earnestly entreated to go to Tar River, 
I took my journey the same evening, w^ith my guide, and rode to 
Bogan's, on Flat River, twenty miles. Next morning, set off 
again, and rode to old Sherman's, on Tar River, and preached that 
afternoon to a small company, who seemed generally attentive, and 
some affected." Next day he went to Grassy Creek, sixteen miles, 
where was a Baptist meeting-house, and preached to a people 
*' who seemed very inquisitive about the way to Zion." The next 
day he accompanied his host, old Mr. Lawrence, to Fishing Creek, 
to the Baptist Yearly Meeting ; and on Saturday and Sabbath 
preached to large and deeply interested audiences. " Here I think 
the power of God appeared something conspicuous, and the word 
seemed to fall with power." Being earnestly pressed, he preached 
again on Sabbath afternoon, with some hope of success. On Mon- 
day he preached again with gi'cater appearance of usefulness. The 
inhabitants, he was informed, were principally from Virginia, and 
some from Pennsylvania and Jersey. " I was obliged to leave 
them after I had preached to and exhorted them with many words, 
that they should carefully guard against ^l^^king shelter under the 
shadow of their own righteousness, committing them to God, who, 
I know, is able to make them wise unto salvation." On Monday, 
P. M., the 18th, he rode to Granville court-house, twenty-five 
miles. On Tuesday he rode to Mr. Sherman's, on Tar River, at 
about 11 o'clock, twenty miles ; and preached in the afternoon " to 
a middling congregation, who appeared very devout, and some of 



HUGH m'a-den. 167 

them much affected." On Wednesday, returned to Mr. Anderson's, 
on Eno. On Friday evening he rode "to the Hawfields, where I 
preached the fourth Sabbath in August, to a considerable large 
congregation, chiefly Presbyterians, who seemed liighly pleased, 
and very desirous to hear the word. Preached again on Tuesday ; 
the people came out to hear quite beyond expectation. Wednes- 
day, set out upon my journey, and came to the Buffalo Settlement, 
about thirty-five miles ; lodged at William Mebane's till Sabbath day ; 
then rode to Adam Michel's, where I preached ; the people seemed 
solemn and very attentive, but no appearance of the life of reli- 
gion. Returned in the evening, about a mile, to Robert Rankin's, 
where I was kindly received and well entertained till Tuesday ; 
then returned to the former place, and preached ; no stir appeared, 
but some tears." On Wednesday, September 3d, he set out for the 
Yadkin, having Robert Rankin as his guide, and having ridden forty- 
five miles, lodged at John Vannoy's. " Next morning, came to Henry 
Sloan's, at the Yadkin Ford, where I was kindly entertained till 
Sabbath day ; rode to the meeting-house and preached to a small 
congregation." Here there appears to have been a congregation 
of some strength that had a meeting-house, but had become di- 
vided, — " Many adhere to the Baptists that were before wavering, 
and several that professed themselves to be Presbyterians ; so that 
very few at present join heartily for our ministers, and will in a 
little time, if God prevent not, be too weak either to call or sup- 
plicate for a faithful minister. O may the good Lord, who can 
bring order out of confusion, and call things that are not as though 
they were, visit this people !" One cause of the divisions in this 
congregation arose from the labors of a Baptist minister among 
them by the name of Miller. 

After preaching, he visited some sick people, and went home 
with James Smith, about four miles. On Tuesday, he preached 
again at the meeting-house, and went home with Cornelius Ander- 
son, about six miles — " a judicious, honest man, I hope, who 
seems to be much concerned for the state of the church and perish- 
ing souls." On Wednesday, 10th, he visited Captain Hunt, who 
was sick with an intermitting fever, and found his visit welcome ; 
and returned to Mr. Sloan's, On Friday, 12th, he crossed the 
Yadkin, and rode about ten miles to James Alison's. On Satur- 
day, he went three or four miles to Mr. Brandon's — " one of my 
own countrymen." On Sabbath, 14th, he preached at " the meet- 
ing-house to a considerable congregation of professing people ;" 
and on Monday, rode to John Luckey's, about five or six miles. 



168 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

" Preached again on Wednesday, being appointed as a day of 
fasting and prayer, to entreat the Lord for deliverance from these 
sad calamities, Avitli which the land seems in general to be threatened, 
being in very great danger both of sword and famine." In the 
evening, he paid a faithful visit to a man, about to die, from a fall 
from his horse, in a very unprepared state of mind. " Went home 
with John Andrew, a serious, good man, I hope, with whom my 
soul was much refreshed, by his warm conversation about the 
things of God. How sweet to meet one in the wilderness who 
can speak the language of Canaan ! The next day, he rode to 
Justice Can'uth's, about eight miles, and remained till Sabbath, 
21st, and then preached at the meeting-house about two miles off, 
"to a pretty large congregation of people, who seemed generally 
pretty regailar and discreet." The next day, he set out for Mr. 
David Templeton's, about five miles from Mr. Carruth's ; on his way 
— " came up with a large company of men, women and children, 
who had fled for their lives from the Cow or Calf pasture in Virgi- 
nia ; from whom I received the melancholy account, that the 
Indians were slill doing a great deal of mischief in those parts, by 
murdering and destroying several of the inhabitants, and banishing 
the rest from their houses and livings, whereby they are forced to 
fly into desert places." Rode on that evening to William Denny's, 
four miles further ; who presented him with what he considered a 
great present, " a pair of shoes, made of his own leather, which 
was no small favor." On Tuesday, he returned to David Temple- 
ton's, and on Wednesday, a day appointed for fasting and prayer, 
rode to " the meeting-house and preached." After sermon, he 
went home with Captain Osborne, about six miles ; here, he 
remained till Sabbath, the 28th, when he preached " at the new- 
meeting-house, about three miles off;" — and "again on Wednes- 
day, being appointed for fasting and humiliation." In the evening, 
he rode home with William Reese, about seven miles, and 
remained till Sabbath, the 5th of October, Avhen he preached at 
Captain Lewis's, about three miles distant — " to as large a con- 
gregation as any I have had since I came to these parts." The 
whole of the succeeding week he lodged at Captain Lewis's. On 
Wednesday, he preached again, it being the day appointed by the 
governor and council, for humiliation, fasting and prayer, on 
account of the distress upon the land. 

On the Sabbath, the 12th of October, he rode seven miles 
to Justice Alexander's, " when I preached in the afternoon, a consi- 
derable solemnity appeared." Though it was now near the middle 



HUGH bi'aden, 169 

of October, the drought was still so great that he says — " I have 
not seen so much as one patch of wheat or rye in the ground." 
On Wednesday, he went over to Major Harris's, about three miles, 
and preached ; on Friday, he preached at David Caldwell's, about 
five or six miles, to a small congregation, and went on to William 
Alexander's, and tarried till Sabbath, the 19th, and then rode about 
twelve miles to James Alexander's, on Sugar Creek, and preached 
— " where there are some pretty serious, judicious people — may 
the Lord grant his blessing !" That evening, he rode home with 
Henry Knealy (or Neely, as he spells the name both ways), six; 
miles ; and on Monday, the 20th, took his journey for Broad 
River — " sixty miles to the southward, in company with two 
young men, who came thus far to conduct me thither — a 'place 
where never any of our missionaries have been.'''' 

On this journey, he passed through the lands of the Catawba 
Indians. On the first night, they prepared to encamp in the 
woods, about three miles south of the Catawba — " there being no 
white man's house on all the road." This was his first night 
" out of doors." On the next day, they passed one of their hunt- 
ing camps unmolested ; but when they stopped to get their 
breakfast, they were surrounded by a large number of Indians, 
shouting and hallooing, and frightenina; their horses and rifling their 
baggage. Accordingly, they moved off as fast as possible, without 
staying to parley ; and to their great annoyance, in a little time 
they passed a second camp of hunters, who prepared to give them 
a similar reception, calling them to stop, from each side the path. 
Passing on rapidly, they escaped without harm ; and after a ride 
of twenty-five miles, were permitted to get their breakfasts in 
peace. 

{Here some leaves of the journal are missing. '\ 

On Sabbath, the 2d of November, he preached "to a number 
of those poor baptized infidels, many of whom I was told had 
never heard a sermon in all their lives before, and yet several 
of them had families." This seems hardly credible. But he re- 
lates an anecdote told him here of an old gentleman, who said to 
the governor of South Carolina, when he was in those parts, in 
treaty with the Cherokee Indians, that he "had never seen a 
shirt, been in a fair, heard a sermon or seen a minister, in all 
his life." Upon which the governor promised to send him up a 
minister, that he might hear one sermon before he died. The 
minister came and preached ; and this was all the preaching that 



170 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

had been heard in the upper part of South Carohna before Mr. 
McAden's visit. 

How far he penetrated the State is not known, on account of 
the loss of a few leaves of the journal. " On Monday, the 10th 
of November, returned about twenty miles, to James Atterson's, 
on Tyger river ; preached on Tuesday, which was the Jirst they 
had ever heard in these parts, but I hope it will not be the last, 
for there are men in all these places (blessed be God), some at 
least, that have a great desire of hearing the gospel preached. 
Next day rode to James Love's, on Broad River : Thursday, 
preached." On Broad River his congregation was effected under 
his preaching. It is not unlikely that some latitude of expression 
was used by those who gave him the statements he records. It 
is very likely that he was the first minister the people heard in 
those neighborhoods ; but those who had never heard a sermon 
were comparatively few, as the mass of the early settlers were of 
a parentage that taught their children the way to church. There 
were, however, some settlers from the older parts of the State that 
had not been much accustomed to any religious forms. 

"Friday, the 14th, took my leave of these parts, and set out 
for the Waxhaws, forty-five miles, good ; that night reached 
Thomas Farrel's, where I lodged till Sabbath day ; then rode to 
James Patton's, about two miles, and preached to a pretty large 
congregation of Presbyterian people. Wednesday, preached 
again in the same place, and crossed the Catawba river and came 
to Henry White's." Here he remained till Sabbath ; part of the 
time sick of the flux, but was able to preach on Sabbath, the 
23d, at "the meeting-house " five miles off; and went home with 
Justice Dickens. On the Monday following he set out for the 
Yadkin, retracing his steps ; lodging that night at Henry Neely's, 
where his disorder returned upon him, and kept him till Sabbath, 
when he rode six miles, to James Alexander's, and preached. 
From thence he proceeded to Justice Alexander's, on Rocky 
River, twelve miles ; thence on to Captain Lewis's, in the Welch 
settlement, and there tarried some days as before, and preached 
the first Sabbath of December (the 7th) ; thence to William 
Recce's ; and on the next Sabbath (the 14th) he preached in the 
" new meeting-house," near Mr. Osborne's ; the next, at Coddle 
Creek ; and passing on he called on David Tcmplcton, William 
Denny, Justice Carruth, and John Andrew, and preached on 
Sabbath, the 28th, at Cathey's meeting-house, now called Thya- 
tira, to a larffc audience. Here he was urged to remain and 



HUGH M ADEN. 171 

divide his time with that congregation and Rocky River. The 
congregation, however, was divided in their preference, some for 
the old side, and some for the new; and the movements to settle 
a minister unfortmiatcly became a party question. Being ur- 
gently solicited, he preached the next Sabbath at the same church , 
and his friends made out their subscription. On the whole, he 
thought it unadvi sable to prosecute the matter. After visiting 
Second Creek, and preaching at Captain Hampton's, he passed on 
to the Yadkin, and having crossed it with difficulty, he lodged 
with his former host, Mr. Sloan, and preached in " the meeting- 
house " on the second Sabbath of January, the 11th day, in com- 
pany with Mr. Miller, the Baptist minister, from Jersey, of whom 
as a Christian man he speaks favorably. 

On Tuesday, January 13th, 1756, he set out on a journey down 
the Cape Fear river, to Wilmington, in company with a Mr. Van 
Clave, and reached Huary, thirty miles, and preached the next 
day, Wednesday. The next day he reached Smith's, at the Sand 
Hills, and remained till Sabbath ; in public worship he could find 
no one to join in singing a part of a psalm. On Monday, the 19th, 
set off" in company with Mr. Smith, who was going to court, and 
rode fifty miles to McKay's. Next day rode thirty miles to Anson 
court-house. Here he met with an old acquaintance, James 
Stewart, and went home with him and remained till Saturday, and 
preached at the court-house, and rode to the New Store. On 
Sabbath, the 25th, he rode to Hector McNeill's, " and preached to 
a number of Highlanders, — some of them scarcely knew one 
word that I said, — the poorest singers I ever heard in all my life. 
Next day rode to David Smith's, on the other side of Little River, 
fourteen miles ; on Tuesday, preached to a considerable immber 
of people who came to hear me at Smith's. Wednesday, rode up 
to Alexander McKay's, upon the Yadkin road, thirty miles ; 
Thursday, preached to a small congregation, mostly of Highland- 
ers, who were very much obliged to me for coming, and highly 
pleased with my discourse. Though, alas, I am afraid it was all 
but feigned and hypocritical." His reason for this fear was, some 
stayed around the house all night and indulged in drinking and 
profane language, in spite of his remonstrances, and almost entirely 
prevented his rest. 

On Friday he " set off" down the river, thirty miles, to Neill 
Beard's;" then he preached on Sabbath, 1st of February, to a 
" mixed multitude, some Presbyterians, some church people, some 
Baptists, and don't know but some Quakers." However, they ex- 



172 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

pressed themselves highly pleased with liis visit. On Monday, 
the 2d, he rode to a Mr. James Semes's, about five miles, a sick 
family w^hom he visited, and preached in their house to the neigh- 
bors assembled ; and in the evening rode on to Mr. Robinson's, " a 
very affable gentleman," with whom he tarried till Wednesday, 
and then accompanied to the court-house in Bladen county, 
where he preached to a considerable congregation ; and " in the 
evening went home with old Justice Randle, about two miles." 
On Thursday he preached at George Brown's, three miles off, and 
went on three miles further to Neal Shaw's, and the next day to 
Duncan McCoulsky's ; and on Sabbath, the 8th, rode to Esquire 
McNeill's, where he preached to a small congregation, the day 
being wet. " After the sermon a proposal was made to get me to 
come and settle among them ; and I think I never saw people 
more engaged, or subscribe with greater freedom and cheerfulness 
in my life. May the Lord, in much mercy, prepare me for some 
usefulness in the world, and direct me to what will be most for 
his own glory, and the good of precious souls !" 

" On Monday, 9th, crossed the swamp and came to Baldwin's, 
on the Whitemarsh, about five miles, where I tarried all night, and 
preached the next day to a very few irregular sort of people, who, I 
believe, know but little about the principles of any religion." In the 
evening he rode home with Mr. Kerr, four miles. On Wednes- 
day he set out for Wilmington, and rode thirty miles to young Mr. 
Granger's, "a very discreet gentleman, who entertained me with a 
great deal of courtesy ;" on Thursday he rode fifteen miles to Pre- 
sident Roan's ; and on the next day fifteen miles further to the 
ferry, and then crossed by water, four miles, to Wilmington. 

Here he preached. Sabbath, the 15th, " in the A.M., to a large and 
splendid audience, but was surprised when I came again in the 
P.M., to see about a dozen met to hear me." This small number 
greatly depressed his spirits, and probably hastened his departure 
from the place on the Tuesday following. On that day he rode 
twenty-five miles, to Cowen's, up the Northeast Cape Fear, and on 
the next day to old Mr. Evans's, in the Welch Tract. 

There he preached on Sabbath, 22d, designing to move on 
homeward, " but I was detained by the affection and entreaties of 
this people, who earnestly pressed upon me to tarry with them 
another Sabbath ; their design herein was that they might have 
time to get a subscription drawn up, that they might put in a call 
for me." On Sabbath, the 29th, he preached again to the same 



HUGH M ADEN. 173 

people, who expressed great desire for his return, and made out a 
call for him as their pastor. 

On Tuesday, March 2d, he rode to Mr. Bowen's, about ten 
miles, on Black River ; and on the next day six miles further, and 
preached, then crossed the river and rode about five miles to South 
River, where he lodged with Mr. Anderson. On Thursday crossed 
Collie's Swamp, then in a bad condition — " lodged at old Mr. Grife 
Jones's ;" on the next day crossed the Northwest, and lodged at 
George Brown's, where he preached on Sabbatlj, March 7th. 
While in this neighborhood, he was grieved to find some, who had 
been brought up under the influence of the gospel in other parts, 
become dissolute and indulging infidel notions, since their abode 
in this region where the gospel was not regularly preached, and in 
fact scarcely heard. 

On Monday, the 8th, crossed the Northwest, and beino- de- 
tained by the rain, and some other business, he rode but about ten 
miles, to Mr. Isaac Jones's, " a good honest Quaker, and an 
assemblyman." The next day, crossed Collie's Swamp ao-ain, 
which was now overflowed, and caused much trouble by swim- 
ming the horses — "and got to Mr. Anderson's again about 12 
o'clock ;" that same day, he rode on to Mr. Lewis's, on Black 
River, about twenty-five miles. On Wednesday, he went fifteen 
miles, to John James's, and preached. By the high waters he was 
detained in the Welch Tract till after the second Sabbath x>{ March. 
On Thursday, 18th, he rode to Jeremiah Holden's, about twenty 
miles ; and on the next morning, about three miles, to Mr. Dick- 
son's, the clerk of Duplin county, where he preached on Sab- 
bath, the 21st, to a considerable congregation, most of whom were 
Irish. 

" The people here being very desirous to join with the Welch 
Tract, in putting in a call for me, and many of their best friends 
being abroad upon business, they insisted so strongly upon me, that 
I was forced to consent to stay with them another day. Tuesday 
rode up to Goshen in company with Mr. Dickson, and several 
more. Came to Mr. Gaven's, twelve miles, where we tarried all 
night ; next day preached, and returned to Mr, Dickson's." On 
Sabbath, 28th, he preached at John Miller's, about two miles 
distant. The people seemed all very hearty in giving him a call 
and making a proper support for him. 

On Monday, the 29th, he set out from Mr. Dickson's home- 
ward ; tarried that night at Mr. Gaven's, twelve miles ; next day 
crossed Neuse, and tarried with Joshua Herring, about thirty 



174 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

miles. This man was out early in the morning, and assembled 
his neighbors, and detained him to preach to them at noon. In 
the evening, rode to Mr. Herring's, senior, about twelve miles. 
" The next morning, set out upon my journey for Pamlico, and 
rode about ten miles, to Major McWain's, where I had opportunity 
of seeing and conversing with Governor Dobbs, who is a very so- 
ciable gentleman." That night he lodged at Peter's Ferry, on 
Cuttentony, about twenty miles, it being too late to go farther. 
The next day, he rode about forty miles, to Salter's Ferry, on 
Pamlico. The next day, being Saturday, he came to Thomas 
Little's, where he remained over Sabbath, April 4th. This man 
had not heard a Presbyterian minister in the twenty-eight years he 
had lived in Carolina, and took the opportunity of sending round 
for his neighbors, and collected a congregation ; and kept Mr. 
McAden till Wednesday, to preach again. " I found some few 
amongst them, that I trust are God's dear children, who seemed 
much refreshed by my coming." 

On the 7th day of April, Wednesday, after sermon, he rode to 
Mr. Barrow's, about five miles ; and the next day, about five or 
six miles, to the Red Banks, " where I preached to a pretty large 
company of various sorts of people, but fewer Presbyterians. In 
the evening, rode up the river, ten miles, to Mr. Mace's, who is a 
man of considerable note, and a Presbyterian." Here he remained 
till Sabbath, the 11th, and preached in the neighborhood. 

On Tuesday, April 13th, he set out homeward, and rode twenty 
miles, to Mr. Toole's, on Tar River ; this man he describes as 
unhappy in his notions of unbelief. On Wednesday, he rode 
thirty miles, to Edgecomb court-house ; the next day he reached 
Fishing Creek, about twenty-five miles ; and on Friday, he rode 
about ten miles up the creek, and was kindly received by the 
Baptist friends he made on his journey through the country the 
last fall. On Sabbath, 18th, he preached at their meeting-house. 
Here many came to converse with him about their experience. 
On the next day, he went home with Joseph Linsey, who had 
heard him preach. 

" He insisted very hard upon me to stay at Nut Bush, and give 
them a sermon, as tiiey were very destitute and out of the way. I 
went home with him, about twenty-two miles, it being pretty much 
in my way, and preached." He found them a cheerful people, 
without the regular preaching of the gospel, and in a situation as 
might be expected, with abundance of wealth, and full leisure for 
enjoyment. 



HUGH M ADEN. 175 

On Wednesday he reached Captain Hampton's, about 35 
miles ; and on Thursday got to John Anderson's, — " who seemed 
very joyful to see me returned so far back again ; " tarried till Sab- 
bath, and preached. On Tuesday, 27th, he preached at Hawfields ; 
on Wednesday at Eno : on Thursday rode down to Aaron Van- 
hook's ; and next day to John McFarland's, on Hico ; and there 
preached. Sabbath, the 2d of May. 

" Got ready to take my journey from Carolina, Thursday, the 
6th of May, 1756 ; that day rode in company with Solomon De- 
bow, who came to conduct me as far as John Baird's, on Dan 
River, twenty miles from Hico." From thence he set off alone. 
Passing through Amelia, we find him, on Sabbath, the 9th of May, 
at the house of Mr. Messaux, on James' River. Here the journal 
abruptly closes. 

It is interesting to follow the track of this early missionary. 
Many of the neighborhoods he mentions have at this day regular 
preaching; in some there are large congregations and flourishing 
churches ; and some few have passed from the list of Presbyte- 
rian congregations. 

The time, and distances from place to place, have been given 
for the purpose of enabling those in the region of his route to trace 
his track. A comparison of the state of things as they appeared 
ninety years ago, with the present, may lead to profitable reflec- 
tions. These data are left with those who may feel interested in 
searching out the "beginning of things." 

m'aDEn's labors as a pastor in north CAROLINA. 

Mr. McAden returned to Carolina, and became the settled minis- 
ter of the congregations in Duplin and New IJanovcr. He was 
ordained by the Presbytery of New Castle, in 1757; and in 1759 
was dismissed to join Hanover Presbytery, which then included 
a greater part of Virginia, and extended indefinitely south. He 
presented his credentials at a meeting of the Presbytery on Rock- 
fish, July 18th, 1759, having previously sat as a corresponding 
member. 

With these people he remained about ten years ; when, believ- 
ing that the influence of the climate upon his health was too un- 
favorable to justify his remaining longer in the lower part of the 
State, he removed to Caswell county, and there finished his days. 
At a meeting of Hanover Presbytery, at Buffalo, March 2d, 1768, 
for the purpose of ordaining Messrs. David Caldwell and Joseph 
Alexander, " a call from the churches of Hico, Dan River, and 



176 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Counly Line Creek," was put in for his pastoral services. At the 
same meeting he presided at the installation of the Rev. David 
Caldwell over the congregations of Buffalo and Alamance. This 
year, if not earlier, he became a resident of Caswell. An intima- 
cy had existed between him and this people for years, and he had 
laid their destitute condition before the Presbytery in 1759, " giving 
a moving representation of their difficulties." The names of these 
churches were changed ; and also the place of his labors in part. 
At the time of his death he was preaching at Red House (Middle 
Hyco), Greer's (Upper Hyco), and to a church in Pittsylvania, 
" about half a day's ride " from his dwelling, near the Red House. 

Mr. McAden was united in marriage with a Miss Scott, of 
Lunenburg county, Virginia, whose family name was given to the 
neighborhood, formed by a company of emigrants from the North 
of Ireland, and called Scott's Settlement. A number of children 
were born to him in Duplin, the eldest of whom died in Caswell, 
in the year 1845. 

Tlie following extract from a letter dictated by Dr. John Mc- 
Aden, the eldest son of the preacher, in his 82d year, contains all 
we know of the habits of this pioneer of Carolina. The letter 
bears date — " Hyco Hills, Caswell county, Jan. 5th, 1845. My 
father w^as a very systematic man, — and he always spent one or 
two days every week in private study, — and if he walked into the 
fields he always carried his Bible with him. He visited with his 
elders once a year, all the families within the bounds of his con- 
gregations, — and he would exhort and pray with them during his 
stay. He would collect all of his congregations once a year at 
his churches, and hold an examination of those present. He 
administered the sacrament at each of his churches twice every 
year. He spent his life in attempting to convince all of their sins, 
and in rendering happy those who were members of his congrega- 
tions, — respected and beloved by all who knew him. During the 
Revolution, the Lord God Almighty thought proper to remove this 
venerable man, whose influence will always be acknowledged Avith 
pleasure ; and he departed this life January 20th, 1781, leaving a 
wife and seven children. Two weeks after his death, the British 
encamped in the yard of the Red House church. They remained 
there some time, going about over the country, committing many 
depredations upon all the neighbors. And my father's long minis- 
terial services did not free him from their ravages, but they came 
to' his house and searched it throughout, destroying many things, 
and also many of his most valuable papers, on account of which. 



HUGH m'aden. 177 

the knowledge of my father is so Hmited, having been absent a 
greater part of my Hfe at school in Guilford, N. C, under the late 
Dr. Caldwell, and having arrived at home a few days before the 
death of my father. During the encampment of the British in 
the yard of the Red House, they committed many depredations 
upon the church which were not repaired for many years." 

The visit of the British referred to in this letter, took place, 
after Green had crossed the Dan, in the memorable retreat before 
Cornwallis, by which the march of Morgan into Virginia, with 
the prisoners taken at the Cowpens, was covered, and the American 
forces placed beyond the reach of the enemy, till reinforcements 
from Virginia came in, and Greene could venture to face the enemj'' 
and provoke the famous battle of Guilford. It is a well-known 
fact that Cornwallis's army ever showed a dislike to Presbyterian 
ministers, as the immediate cause of much of the stubborn resist- 
ance which met them at every step in Carolina. McAden had 
rested from his labors before his house was plundered, like Cald- 
well's ; and he was spared the trial of being witness of the miseries 
of his congregation, and flying, like a criminal, to the forests and 
the dens of the earth, like his brother, of Guilford. 

Mr. McAden lies buried in the grave-yard, near the Red House, 
in Caswell county, about five miles from the flourishing town 
of Milton, the Pioneer in Duplin, New Hanover, Caswell, and 
Pittsylvania. 

THE CHURCHES IN DUPLIN AND NEW HANOVER AFTER HIS 
DEPARTURE. 

For a long period there was no successor to Mr. McAden in 
Duplin and New Hanover. The congregations were served only 
by the precarious and desultory labors of occasional missionaries, 
and were dwindling away. In 1793, John Robinson was licensed 
by Orange Presbytery, and directed to labor in Duplin. The 
mutual interest resulting from his first visit, led to his settlement ; 
and till the close of the century, his successful labors were devoted 
to the remains of the congregations served by McAden for about 
ten years. They revived under his ministry. In the year 1800 
he removed to Fayetteville. 

The Rev. Samuel Stanford became a member of Orange Pres- 
bytery in 1795, and visited the low country before Mr. Robinson 
left, and became Jiis successor. He extended his labors over the 
greater part of Duplin as a minister, and conducted a classical 
chool with success. Tlie Academy at the Grove has been kept 



178 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in operation, with some intermissions, for a long series of years. 
The pastors that have succeeded Mr. Stanford have been patrons 
or teachers of a classical school either at the Grove, or near their 
own residence, and have kept alive the spirit of classical education, 
without which there is no permanent attention to polite literature, 
and sound philosophy, and true science, Mr. Stanford wore out 
his strength and days in the service of the people of Duplin, and 
finished his course in the year 1828. 

For a few years the Rev. S. D. Hatch labored with great suc- 
cess in Duplin ; and left the county for a more southern residence 
much against the desires of an affectionate people. 

Rev. Alexander Mclver ran a short race in Duplin, being 
arrested by sudden death, in the midst of his days and his use- 
fulness. 

Wilmington had no organized Presbyterian church till long 
after the Revolution, engaging occasionally tlie services of well- 
educated men, who acted in the capacity of classical teachers and 
ministers of the gospel. Rev. James Tate, a Presbyterian minis- 
ter, came from Ireland to Wilmington, about the year 1760 ; and 
for his support opened a classical school, the first ever taught in 
the place. He educated many of the young men of New Hanover, 
who took an active part in the Revolution. While residing in 
Wilmington, he was accustomed to take excursions for preaching 
through New Hanover and the adjoining counties, particularly up 
the Black and South Rivers. In the course of his visits he bap- 
tized the children of the Scotch and Irish families, that chose to 
present them, without any particular inquiry into the Christian 
experience of the parents, which would perhaps have been una- 
vailing of any good in the destitute condition of the country. It 
is supposed, however, that he practised upon the principle of ad- 
mitting to the ordinance the children of all those who had been 
themselves baptized, if not guilty of scandalous lives. He re- 
ceived a small fee for each baptism, either in money or in cotton 
yarn ; and this appears to have been all his salary and all the 
remuneration for his journeyings and services. 

During the Revolutionary war, being a staunch whig in his 
principles, he found it prudent to leave Wilmington and seek a 
residence in the upper countr}^. He declined all offers to be con- 
nected with a congregation ; engaged in frequent preachings in 
destitute neighborhoods desirous of hearing the gospel. He made 
liis home in the Hawfields, in Orange. Courteous in his manners, 
especially to females, he was never married. Particularly neat in 



HUGH m'aden. 179 

his dress, and winning in his conversation, his company was prized 
by young people ; and his influence over them was highly improv- 
ing to their manners, morals, and mental culture. 

About the year 1770, the first church building was put up on 
Black River, near where the Black River Chapel now stands. 

About the year 1785, Rev. William Bingham, from Ireland, 
commenced preaching in Wilmington and the surrounding country. 
He sustained himself by a classical school, in the management of 
which he attained great excellence and eclat. He removed to the 
upper country, and taught with great success in Chatham and in 
Orange. His mantle, as teacher, fell upon his sons. 

About the year 1790, the Rev. Colin Lindsey, a man of exten- 
sive education, fine appearance, and sviperior talents as a speaker, 
came over from Scotland on invitation, and settled on Black River, 
on the place now owned by Mr. Sellars. His stay was short. 
Difficidties of a moral nature arose ; and in about two years he 
removed to Robeson. Having bought a yoke of oxen on a Satur- 
day, at a sale, he permitted them to be driven home on the Sab- 
bath, alleging as a reason, want of food at the place of sale ; a 
member of his church remonstrating, he expressed strong dissatis- 
faction at the liberty taken by a private member to reprove the 
minister. Hard words and hard feelings succeeded ; the congre- 
gation enlisted, and divided. To this grievance was added a 
charge of too free use of spirituous liquors, the distinction of a 
moderate use being admitted ; in oonsequence he removed first to 
Raft Marsh congregation, and from thence to Bethel. About the 
year 1802 he was deprived by Presbytery of his authority to 
preach, and was excommunicated. He continued, however, to 
preach and baptize whenever opportunity occurred ; and further 
rendered himself obnoxious to the Presbytery of Orange, and the 
Synod of the Carolinas, by opposing the great revival of 1802. 
Seizing upon the irregularities tliat accompanied that extensive 
work, he denounced the whole as a delusion, and charged his 
former brethren with fanaticism, and unkind and unrighteous disci- 
pline. By his talents and address he obtained many adherents, 
and greatly resisted the spread of religion, as taught by zealous 
ministers of the day. A notice of this man appears in the extracts 
from the records of the Synod of North Carolina for the year 1810. 
His latter days were unhappy, and in 1832 he died unreconciled 
to the Presbytery. Little is known of his religious exercises in 
his last days. 

His wife was of the Hamilton family, so famous in Scotland and 



180 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Ireland. After the difficulties with her husband commenced, she 
was urged to return to Scotland, but refused. She survived her 
husband some years ; her last days were cheered by the family 
with whom she resided, by the name of McGlaughlin, whose par- 
tiality for the name and race of the Hamiltons was expressed in 
unremitting attentions to her in her infirmities. 

Early in the year 1798, the Rev. Robert Tate, a licentiate of 
Orange Presbytery, reared in the Hawfields, about two miles east 
of the place of worship, visited New Hanover and Duplin, and 
became a resident minister. He was ordained in 1799. His 
preaching-places have been mostly in New Hanover. His first 
communion was on Rockfish, near where the church now stands. 
Four persons united with him and his wife, viz. : Timothy Blood- 
worth and his wife, and Timothy Wilson and his wife. Mr. Blood- 
worth was much in public life, — collector of the port of Wilming- 
ton, and member of Congress from that district. In his old age, 
he prepared for the ministry, but some pecuniary misfortunes pre- 
vented his entrance upon the duties of the office. 

Under Mr. Tate, Rockfish, Keith, and Hopewell sprang up 
and opened the doors of the sanctuary to a large region of coun- 
try. The scene of McAden's labors had become a desolation ; 
but the church still lives in New Hanover, and has hope of con- 
tinuance. Black River congregation was for a long time a sharer 
of Mr. Tate's ministerial labors. Besides the refreshing influence 
enjoyed in common with his brethren, in 1802, and for some suc- 
ceeding years, and various more limited manifestations of divine 
presence, the congregations generally in New Hanover, were vi- 
sited, in 1832, with a refreshing influence, which added many to 
the visible church of Christ, and promoted piety and the life of 
godhness. 

The laborers in that part of the Lord's vineyard embraced by 
New Hanover, and Duplin, and Sampson, have great reason to 
be encouraged, while they labor in the field trod by the first Pres- 
byterian missionaries to Carolina, and hallowed by the sepulchres 
of the ancient dead. When another century shall have passed, 
may there be found worthy successors in the ministry, and flour- 
ishing churches in the vast Turpentine Region ; and may the 
blessings of grace be as ceaseless to the inhabitants as the flow 
of their annual temporal wealth. 

m'aDEN's places of preaching while residing in CASWELL 
COUNTY. 

Colonel James Smith, of Tennessee, an emigrant from North 



HUGH m'aDEN. 181 

Carolina, and son of Colonel Samuel Smith, one of the founders 
of Grassy Creek church, in Granville county, in a letter to Dr. 
Alexander Wilson, of Caldwell Institute, says, " some time be- 
tween 1755 and 1760, Samuel Bell, with his brothers and son-in- 
law, Donnell, removed from Pennsylvania, and settlecl in the forks 
of Hico. They were strict Presbyterians, and were soon sup- 
plied with preaching by a Mr, Black, afterwards by Mr. McAden, 
from the lower part of the State." It appears that this gentleman 
was not aware that McAden had previously visited Hico, and 
found a few families of Presbyterians already there, and that Mr. 
Pattillo had been invited there in 1758. The emigrants he men- 
tions formed the congregation of Upper Hico (now Greers) ; from 
other families Mr. McAden organized Middle Hico (Red House) ; 
and from the emigration of the Barnet family and their friends, he 
gathered Barnet's, or Lower Hico. 

Mr. Smith states that about the time the Bells settled in the 
forks, Hugh Barnet, his brother, and their friends, seated them- 
selves some fifteen or twenty miles southeast of that settlement, 
and planted a church, which was frequently called Barnet's, 
sometimes Criswell's, from their first minister, James Criswell, 
who was licensed by Hanover Presbytery. This church was 
sometimes also called Lower Hico, and though it has ceased to 
have a place in the records of the church, it at one time contained 
more members than any of the sjster churches in the State. 

There was another church in Caswell of long standing, called 
Bethany, or Rattlesnake, situated on the road from Milton to 
Yanceyville, near the residence of Mr. George Wilhamson. It 
was never under the care of Mr. MciVden. For a long time it 
was a flourishing church, and for a series of years enjoyed the 
labors of Rev, Ebenezer B. Currie, now (1846) the oldest mi- 
nister in Orange Presbytery. This church has been divided, and 
the old place of preaching abandoned ; one part of the church 
and congregation worshipping in Yanceyville, and the other form- 
ing the church of Gilead, some five miles southwest of Milton. 

Mr. McAden had another place of preaching, and a church or- 
ganized near Pittsylvania court-house, in Virginia, on which he 
regularly attended during his life. May the church now rising in 
Pittsylvania come up like a phoenix from the ashes of the more 
ancient and almost forgotten, though once flourishing, congrega- 
tions. 

The Bell family, says Mr. Smith, early removed from tliis to 
Guilford, carrying their attachment to religion and to Presby- 



182 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

terianism along with them, and their descendants are to be found 
there to this day. Two of the sons of Samuel Bell, and the 
daughter, Donnell, removed to the west, still carrying their at- 
tachment to religion and Pre sby terianism along with them. The 
two sons lived to an advanced age. One of them, while on his 
knees at family prayer, faltered in his voice, and said, "What 
is this ?" — and ceased to breathe. But of this family, says Mr. 
Smith (many years since), sprung four preachers of strong com- 
mon sense, full of zeal, and eminent for piety. By this family 
much has been done for propagating the gospel in Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and the Cherokee nation. 

The Covenant of God stands sure. " I will be a God to thee 
and thy children after thee." 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 183 



CHAPTER XrV. 

CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK ITS FIRST MINISTER, ALEXANDER CRAIGHEAD. 

The first Presbyterian minister that took his residence in Western 
Carolina, and the third in the State, was Alexander Craighead. In 
what part of Ireland he was born, or in what year he emigrated to 
America, is not a matter of record. The name of Craighead is of 
frequent occurrence in the history of the Church of Scotland and 
of Ireland, and holds an honorable place among the ministry. 
The tradition in the family of Mr. Craighead, as related by Mr. 
Caruthers, was, that his father and grandfather, and perhaps his an- 
cestors further back, were ministers of the gospel, strongly attached 
to the church, and reputed as truly pious. A Mr. Thomas Craig- 
head was among the first ministers of Donegal Presbytery, — a 
native of Scotland, ordained in Ireland, — emigrating to New Eng- 
land, and there remaining from 1715 to 1721, — uniting with the 
Presbytery of New Castle in 1724, — he finished his course in 1738. 

The first notice we have of Mr. Alexander Craighead, as member 
of the Synod of Philadelphia, appears in the record of the Synod 
for the year 1736, September 16th : " the Presbytery of Donegal 
report that Mr. Alexander Craighead was last winter ordained to 
the work of the ministry, and at that time did adopt the Westmin- 
ster Confession of Faith, &c. ; and also, both he and Mr. John 
Paul, lately from Ireland, having now heard the several resolutions 
and acts of the Synod in relation to the adopting said Confession , 
&c., did before the Synod declare their agreement thereunto." In 
this minute, reference is made to the proceedings of the Synod the 
previous year respecting the employing of ministers from abroad, 
requiring of them an express acknowledgment of the Westminster 
Confession of Faith and Catechisms, before the Presbytery, as con- 
dition of admission. 

Being an exceedingly zealous man, of an ardent temperament, 
devoted to the work of the ministry, he was noted for preaching 
sermons peculiarly calculated to awaken careless sinners. Anxious 
for the salvation of men, afid dreading the awful consequences of 
that stupidity on the subject of religion, so apparent around him, 
he favored those measures for bringing men to Christ which were 



184 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

not SO acceptable to his brethren in the Presbytery. He was ac- 
cused of irregularities before his Presbytery in 1740. No immoral- 
ities were alleged against him, or false doctrines charged on him ; 
the complaint was against various proceedings of his thought to be 
irregular. This was about the time of the great revival of religion, 
which in the course of a few years was felt all over the Protestant 
world, began to be seen in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and 
the neighboring counties — an account of which from the pen of 
Samuel Blair is read with unabating interest ; and the commence- 
ment of those discussions which led to the dismemberment of the 
Synod of Philadelphia in 1745. 

The Presbytery were unable to make any conclusion of the mat- 
ter ; for while the majority were against him, his vehement appeals 
to the public turned the sympathies of the community in his favor. 
The charge of irregularity he rebutted by the recriminating charge 
of Pharisaism, coldness and formality ; and in the ardor of his 
defence he was not very measured in his epithets and comparisons. 

In the year 1741 the case was carried up to the Synod, and was 
debated with much earnestness. The great revival in Mr. Blair's 
congregation in Fagg's Manor had spread to many of the congre- 
gations that had previously been unmoved, and the whole commu- 
nity, both religious and irreligious, were agitated, not so much on the 
subject of doctrines, as of measures, not of orthodoxy in the creed, 
but of prudence and propriety in the conduct of church matters 
generally, and the peculiar manner of administering the Word of 
God, from which error in belief and practice might arise. The 
case of Mr. Craighead was lost sight of by the action consequent 
upon the protest brought in by Rev. Robert Cross, signed by him- 
self and eleven ministers and eight elders. The members of New 
Brunswick Presbytery withdrew, and Mr. Craighead withdrew with 
them. His name does not appear on the list of cither Synod of 
New York or Philadelphia until the year 1753, when he appears upon 
the roll of the Synod of New York as an absentee. From the records 
for 1755, he appears as member of New Castle Presbytery. During 
the interval from 1745 to 1753, he was for a time an associate with 
the Cameronians. He was a great admirer of Whitefield's spirit 
and action; and like the first minister among the Presbyterians in 
the lower part of the State, James Campbell, drank deeply of the 
same fountain of truth and love. Like the man they admired, both 
these ministers possessed the power of moving men ; and both left 
an impress upon the community in which they lived in Carolina, 
and stamped an image on the churches they gathered, which arc 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 185 

visible to this day. To all human appearance there has been a 
great amount of fervent piety among the churches gathered and 
watered by these men, which has been bequeathed to their descend- 
ants from generation to generation, as a precious inheritance of the 
covenant of faith. 

Previous to the time that Mr. Craighead's name appears upon the 
roll of the Synod of New York, 1753, he removed to Virginia, pro- 
bably about the year 1749, and took his residence in the county of 
Augusta, on the Cow Pasture river, in the bounds of the present 
Windy Cove congregation. There is upon the minutes of the Phi- 
ladelphia Synod, in the year 1752, a mention of a Mr, Craighead, 
the Christian name not given, and the Presbytery with which he 
held his connection not mentioned. 

Mr. Alexander Craighead's name was enrolled among the mem- 
bers set off for the formation of the Presbytery of Hanover, as ap- 
pears from the following extract from minutes of the Synod of 
New York for 1755 : " A petition was brought into the Synod set- 
ting forth the necessity of erecting a new Presbytery in Virginia, 
the Synod therefore appoint the Rev. Samuel Davies, John Todd, 
Alexander Craighead, Robert Henry, John Wright, and John 
Brown, to be a Presbytery under the name of the Presbytery of 
Hanover, and that their first meeting shall be in Hanover, on the 
first Wednesday of December next, and that Mr. Davies open said 
meeting by a sermon ; and that anjy of their members settling to 
the southward and westward of Mr. Hogge's congregation, shall 
have liberty to join said Presbytery of Hanover." 

Owing probably to the troubles in the country, Mr. Craighead 
did not meet with the Presbytery for some two years after its form- 
ation. 

The defeat of Braddock on the 9th of July, 1755, had thrown 
the frontiers of Virginia at the mercy of the Indians. The inroads 
of the savages were frequent and murderous. Terror reigned 
throughout the valley. Mr. Craighead occupying a most exposed 
situation, his preaching-place being a short distance from the 
present Windy Cove church, and his dwelling on the farm now 
occupied by Mr. Andrew Settlington — in a settlement on the Vir- 
ginia frontier, and open to the incursions of the savages, fled with 
those of his people who were disposed and able to fly, and sought 
safety in less exposed situations, after having lived in Virginia 
about six years. Crossing the Blue Ridge, he passed on to the more 
quiet regions in Carolina, and found a location among the settle- 
ments along the Catawba and its smaller tributaries, in the bounds 



186 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of what is now Mecklenburg county. Mr. Craighead first met 
with Hanover Preshytery at Cub Creek, Sept. 2d, 1757. At a 
meeting of the Presbytery in Cumberland, at Capt. Anderson's, Jan- 
uary, 1758, Mr. Craighead was directed to preach at Rocky River, 
on the second Sabbath of February, and visit the other vacancies 
till the spring meeting. At the meeting of the Presbytery in 
April, a call from Rocky River was presented for the services of 
Mr. Craighead. He accepted the call, and requested installation. 
" Presbytery hereby consent that Mr. Craighead should accept the 
call of the people on Rocky River, in North Carolina, and settle 
with them as their minister, and they appoint Mr. Martin to preside 
at his installation at such time as best suits them both." This ap- 
pointment Mr. Martin failed to fulfil, and in September, Mr. William 
Richardson, on his way to the Cherokees, was appointed to per- 
form the duty. This appointment was fulfilled, though the day of 
the services is not given. From this record it appears that the 
name of the oldest church in the upper country was Rocky River ; 
and it included Sugar Creek in its bounds. In 1765 the bounds of 
all the congregations were adjusted by order of the Synod. 

In this beautiful, fertile and peaceful country, Mr. Craighead 
passed the remainder of his days, in the active duties of a frontier 
minister of the gospel, and ended his successful labors in his Mas- 
ter's vineyard in the month of March, 1766 ; the solitary minister 
between the Yadkin and Catawba. 

In this retired country, too, he found full and undisturbed exer- 
cise for that ardent love of personal liberty and freedom of opinion 
which had rendered him obnoxious in Pennsylvania, and was in 
some measure restrained in Virginia. He was ahead of his minis- 
terial brethren in Pennsylvania in his views of civil government 
and religious liberty, and became particularly offensive to the Go- 
vernor for a pamphlet of a political nature, the authorship of which 
was attributed to him. This pamphlet attracted so much attention, 
that in 1743 Thomas Cookson, one of his Majesty's justices, for the 
county of Lancaster, in the name of the Governor, laid it before the 
Synod of Philadelphia. The Synod disavowed both the pamphlet 
and Mr. Craighead ; and agreed with the Justice that it was calcu- 
lated to foment disloyal and rebellious practices, and disseminate 
principles of disaffection. 

In the State of Virginia to which he removed, the disabilities 
upon those who dissented from the established government, were 
ill-suited to the spirit of such a man as Mr. Craighead. To fight 
with savages, to defend the frontiers, and shield the plantations of 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 187 

Eastern Virginia ; for men that could not yield to his congregation 
the privilege of being married according to the ceremonies of the 
church to which they belonged, and who required of them to sup- 
port a ministry on whose ordinances, public and private, they would 
not attend, could not be agreeable to a spirit that longed for all the 
freedom that belongs to man, and in his aspirations for what he had 
not seen, and scarcely knew how to comprehend, indulged in lati- 
tude of thought and expression alarming even to emigrants from 
Ireland, whose minds had not been restrained in their speculations 
about religious and civil liberty. 

In Carolina, he found a people remote from the seat of authority, 
among whom the intolerant laws were a dead letter, so far divided 
from other congregations, even of his own faith, that there could be 
no collision with him, on account of faith or practice ; so united in 
their general principles of religion and church government, that he 
was the teacher of the whole population, and here his spirit rested. 
Here he passed his days; here he poured forth his principles of 
religious and civil government, undisturbed by the jealousy of the 
government, too distant to be aware of his doings, or too careless to 
be interested in the poor and distant emigrants on the Catawba. 

Mr. Craighead had the privilege of forming the principles, both 
civil and religious, in no measured degree, of a race of men that 
feared God, and feared not labor and hardship, or the face of man ; 
a race that sought for freedom and property in the wilderness, 
and having found them, rejoiced, — a race capable of great excel- 
lence, mental and physical, whose minds could conceive the glorious 
idea of Independence, and whose convention announced it to the 
world, in May, 1775, and whose hands sustained it in the trying 
scenes of the Revolution. 

About the time the emigration from Ireland, through Pennsylva- 
nia, began to occupy the beautiful valley of Virginia, and the 
w^aters of the Roanoke, some scattered families were found follow- 
ing the Indian traders' path to the wide prairies on the east of the 
Catawba, and west of the Yadkin. From the similarity of names, 
in the absence of other proof, it is very probable that these settle- 
ments, in the beautiful Mesopotamia of Carolina, w^ere formed from 
emigrants from the same parts of Ireland that nurtured the youth of 
the ancestors of the congregation on Opecquon, in Frederick 
county, in Virginia, and the congregation of the Tripleforks of 
Shenandoah, in Augusta. These in Virginia were commenced about 
the year 1737 ; those in Carolina must have been soon after. By 
means of the memoranda preserved by the Clark family, that have 



188 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lived more than a century along the Cape Fear river, it is ascer- 
tained that a family, if not a company, of emigrants went to the 
west of Yadkin, as all the upper country was then called, as early 
as the year 1746, to join some families that were living sequestered 
in that fertile region. This, the oldest positive date that is now 
known, indicates a previous settlement, the time of whose arrival 
cannot be found out, as the records of courts are all silent, and the 
offices of the foreign landowners were not then opened for the sale 
of these remote fields and forests. 

The emigrants from Ireland, holding the Protestant faith, the first 
to leave the place of their birth, for the enjoyment of freedom, in 
companies sufficient to form settlements, sought the wilds of Ame- 
rica by two avenues, the one, by the Delaware River, whose chief 
port was Philadelphia, and the other, by a more southern landing, 
the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Those landing at the 
southern port, immediately sought the fertile forests of the upper 
country, approaching North Carolina on one side, and Georgia on 
the other; and not being very particular about boundaries, extended 
southward at pleasure, while, on the north, they were checked by a 
counter tide of emigration. Those who landed on the Delaware, 
after the desirable lands east of the Alleghanies, in Pennsylvania, 
were occupied, turned their course southward, and were speedily on 
the Catawba : passing on, they met the southern tide, and the 
stream turned westward, to the wilderness long known as " Beyond 
the Mountains ;" now, as Tennessee. These two streams, from the 
same original fountain, Ireland, meeting and intermingling in this 
new soil, preserve the characteristic difference, the one, possessing 
some of the air and manner of Pennsylvania, and the other, of 
Charleston. These are the Puritans, the Roundheads of the South, 
the Blue-stockings of all countries ; men that settled the wilderness 
on principle, and for principle's sake ; that built churches from prin- 
ciple, and fought for liberty of person and conscience as their 
acquisition, and the birthright of their children. 

Passing along the upper stage route from South Carolina, through 
the " Old North State," to the " Old Dominion," the traveller is 
conducted through the pleasant villages of Charlotte, Concord, 
Salisbury, Lexington, Greensborough, and then either through 
Hillsborough to the capital of North Carolina, Raleigh, or through 
Danville or Milton, on to the River of Powhatan. This is the line of 
settlements of the emigrants from Ireland, as they sought a residence 
in this beautiful upper country. After passing Charlotte, the first ob- 
ject of importance that meets the eye of one searching for localities, 
is the plain brick meeting-house, of the Sugar Creek congregation, 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 189 

about three miles north of the village. This is the present place 
of worship of part of the oldest Presbyterian congregation in the 
upper country, in some measure the Parent of the Seven 
Congregations that formed the Convention in Charlotte, in 1775. 
The Indian name of the creek, which gave name to the congrega- 
tion, was pronounced Sugaw or Soogaiv, and in the early records 
of the Church, was written Sugaw ; but for many years it has been 
written according to the common pronunciation, ending the word 
with the letter r, instead of iv . This brick church is the third 
house of worship used by the congregation ; the first stood about half 
a mile west from this, and the second, a few steps south, the pulpit 
being over the place now occupied by the pastor's grave. 

Previous to the year 1750, the emigration to this beautiful but 
distant frontier was slow, and the solitary cabins were found upon 
the borders of prairies, and in the vicinity of canebrakes, the 
immense ranges abounding with wild game, and affording suste- 
nance the whole year, for herds of tame cattle. Extensive tracts 
of country between the Yadkin and the Catawba, now waving with 
thrifty forests, then were covered with tall grass, with scarce a 
bush or shrub, looking at first view as if immense grazing farms 
had been at once abandoned, the houses disappearing, and the 
abundant grass luxuriating in its native wildness and beauty, the 
wild herds wandering at pleasure, and nature rejoicing in undis- 
turbed quietness. 

From about the year 1750, family after family, group after group, 
succeeded in rapid progression, led on by reports sent back by the 
adventurous pioneers of the fertility and beauty of those solitudes, 
where conscience was free, and labor all voluntary. By the time 
that Mr. McAden visited the settlements in 1755 and 1756, they 
were in sufficient numbers to form a congregation in the centre 
spot. Many of the early settlers were truly pious, many others had 
been accustomed to attend upon and support the ordinances of God's 
house. Intermingled were some that delighted, in these solitudes, to 
throw off all restraint, and live in open disregard of the ordinances 
of God, and as far as was safe, in defiance of the laws of man. 
The pious and the moral united in the worship of God, and formed 
the congregation of Sugaw Creek, which knew no other bounds than 
the distance men and women could walk or ride to church, which 
was often as much as fifteen miles, as a regular thing, and twenty 
for an occasional meeting. 

At the time of the settlement of Mr. Craighead, the county of 
Anson extended from Bladen indefinitely west, having been set off 



190 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in 1749, as a separate county. In the year 1762, the county of 
Mecklenburg was set off from Anson, and took its name in honor 
of the reigning house of Hanover ; and the county seat, in the 
bounds of Sugaw Creek congregation, and about three miles from 
the church, was called Charlotte, in honor of the Princess Charlotte 
of Mecklenburg. 

About the year 1765, by order of the Synod of New York and 
Philadelphia, the congregations that surround Sugar Creek were 
organized by the Rev. Messrs. Spencer and M'Whorter, as appears 
from the Records of Synod as follows : — viz., Elizabethtown, May 
23d, 1764, — " Synod more particularly considering the state of 
many congregations to the southward, and particularly North Caro- 
lina, and the great importance of having those congregations pro- 
perly organized, appoint the Rev. Messrs. Elihu Spencer and 
Alexander M'Whorter, to go as our missionaries for that purpose ; 
that they form societies, help them in adjusting their bounds, to 
ordain elders, administer sealing ordinances, instruct the people in 
discipline, and finally direct them in their after conduct," &c. On 
the 16th of May, 1765, this committee reported to the Synod that 
they had performed their mission; this report, however, has not 
been preserved. But we are not left at a loss for the names of part 
of the congregations whose bounds they adjusted, as, in that and the 
succeeding year, calls were sent in for pastors from Steel Creek, 
Providence, Hopewell, Centre, Rocky River, and Poplar Tent, which 
entirely surrounded Sugar Creek, besides those in Rowan and Ire- 
dell. 

These seven congregations were in Mecklenburg, except a part 
of Centre which lay in Rowan (now Iredell), — and in their exten- 
sive bounds comprehended almost the entire county. From these 
came the delegates that formed the celebrated convention in Char- 
lotte. 

A visit to the localities of this congregation will reward the tra- 
veller. 

Turning westward from this brick church, about half a mile 
through the woods, you find on a gentle ascent, the first burying 
ground of this congregation, and probably the oldest in Mecklen- 
burg county. A few rods to the east of the stone wall that surrounds 
it, stood a log church where Craighead preached, and where were 
congregated from Sabbath to Sabbath many choice spirits, that 
having worshipped the God of their fathers, in this wilderness, far 
from their native land, now sleep in this yard. The house, to its 
very foundation, has passed away, and with it the generation that 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 191 

gathered in it, upon the first settlement of the land. Their deeds 
remain. The children of that race are passing away too ; scarce a 
man or woman lingers in the flesh ; and with them is passing, fast 
passing to oblivion, the knowledge of things, and men, and deeds, 
which posterity will fain dig from the rubbish of antiquity, and 
shall dig for in vain. The generation has passed, without a history, 
and almost without an epitaph. 

These little breaches you see in the time defying wall, reared by 
the emigrants around the burial place of their dead, were made by 
gold diggers, when the excitement first spread over the land upon 
the discovery, that these adventurous people had lived, and died, 
and were buried here, ignorant that there was, or could be, in their 
place of worship and sepulture, any deposit more dear to posterity 
than the ashes of their ancestors. Entering by the gateway at the 
north-western corner through w^hich the emigrants carried their 
dead, a multitude of graves closely congregated, with a few scattered 
monuments, meet the eye. You cannot avoid the impression, as you 
move on, that you are walking upon the ashes of the dead ; and as 
you read some of the scanty memorials, reared by affection to mark 
the burial-places of friends, that you are among the tombs of the 
first settlers who lie in crowds beneath your feet, without a stone to 
tell whose body is resting there in expectation of the resurrection. 

The first head-stone, a little distance from the gate, on the right, 
is inscribed, — " Mrs. Jemima Alexander Sharpe ; bo7^n Jan. 9th, 
1727: died Sept. 1st, 1797 ; a widdow 38 years.'''' An elder sister 
of the secretary of the convention, one of the earliest emigrants to 
this country, she used to say, that in the early days of her residence 
here, her nearest neighbor northward was eight miles, and south- 
ward and eastward, fifteen ; that the coming of a neighbor was a 
matter of rejoicing ; and that her heart was sustained in her solitude 
by the Doctrines of the Gospel and the Creed of her Church. 

]n the southwest corner is an inscription to — Jane Wallis, who 
died July 31st, 1792, in the eightieth year of her age, — the honored 
mother of the Rev. Mr. Wallis, minister of Providence, some fifteen 
miles south of this place, — the able defender of Christianity against 
infidelity spreading over the country at the close of the Revolution, 
like a flood. His grave is with his people. 

Near the middle of the yard is the stone inscribed to the memory 
of David Robinson, who died October 12th, 1808, aged eighty-two, 
— an emigrant, and the father of the late Dr. Robinson, who served 
the congregation of Poplar Tent about forty years, and ended his 
counse in December, 1843. It was at a spring on this man's land, 



192 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and near his house, that the congregation of Sugar Creek and 
Hopewell used to meet and spend days of fasting and prayer to- 
gether, during the troublesome times of the early stages of the 
French Revolution. From the peculiar formation of the ravine 
around the spring, the pious people were willing to believe that it 
was a place designed of God for his people to meet and seek his 
face. 

The oldest monument, but not the monument of the oldest grave, 
is a small stone thus inscribed. 

Here Lys the 

Body of Robert 

McKee, who deceased 

October the 19th, 1775, 

Aged 73 years. 

Around lie many that were distinguished in the Revolution, without 
a stone to their graves, and not one with an epitaph that should 
tell the fact of that honorable distinction. Perhaps the omission 
may have arisen from the circumstance honorable to the country, 
that, with few exceptions, the whole neighborhood were noted for 
privations and suffering, and brave exploits in a cause sacred in 
their eyes. 

The most interesting grave is at the southeast corner, w^ithout 
an inscription or even a stone or mound to signify that the bones 
of any mortal are there. It is the grave of the Reverend Alex- 
ander Craighead, the first minister of the congregation, and of the 
six succeeding ones whose members composed the entire conven- 
tion in Charlotte, in May, 1775. Tradition says that these two 
sassafras trees, standing, the one at the head, and the other at the 
foot of the grave, sprung from the two sticks on which, as a bier, 
the coffin of this memorable man was borne to the grave in March, 
1766. Being thrust into the ground to mark the spot temporarily, 
the green sticks, fresh from the mother stock, took root and grew. 
Was it an emblem ? Were we as superstitious as the people of 
Europe a hundred years ago, we might read in this and the sur- 
rounding congregations, the fulfilment of this mute prophecy. 
The aspirations for liberty, which were too warm for the province 
of Pennsylvania or even Virginia, were congenial to the spirits 
here. When the hearts around him beat wuth his, Craighead 
ceased to be " tinged with an uncharitable and party spirit" charged 
on him in Pennsylvania ; and the community which assumed its 
form under his guiding hand, had the image of democratic republi- 
can liberty more fair than any sister settlement in all the south. 



CHURCH OF .SUGAR CREEK. 193 

perhaps in all the United States. And his religious creed as to 
doctrines, and also as to experience, has been the creed of the 
Presbyterians of Mecklenburg. Soundness of doctrine, according to 
the Confession of Faith, has been maintained by his congregation at 
all hazards — and a standard of warm-hearted piety and ardent de- 
votion has been h^iided down as a legacy from their fathers to suc- 
ceeding genera^qjis to which the church has always looked with 
kindling desire.*^ Mr. Caruthers tells us, Mr. Craighead was sub- 
ject, in the latter part of his life, to dejection of spirits. This of 
course lessened his capability to labor ; and may account for the 
application from Rocky River for supplies in 1761, as he was the 
only minister in the country. 

Besides this double influence of the man, living and speaking 
after him, much of his spirit has been inherited by his descendants, 
and with it the affections of the people. He left two sons, and 
several daughters. One son, Thomas, licensed in 1778, supplied 
the congregation of his father for some time ; but declining a set- 
tlement in North Carolina, he ultimately removed to Tennessee ; — 
an eloquent preacher and warm-hearted man. He died a few 
years since near Nashville ; the latter part of his life rendered less 
useful by his difference with his brethren on the subject of the 
agency of the Word in the conversion of men. His third daughter, 
Rachel, was married to the Reverend David Caldwell of Guilford, 
whose life has been given to the public by his successor, the Reve- 
rend Eli W. Caruthers, and became the mother of Samuel C. Cald- 
well, whose whole ministerial life, with small exception, was devot- 
ed to this, his grandfather's charge. His memorial, testifying to 
his service for thirty-five years, is near the new brick meeting-house. 

After the removal of Dr. Morrison to Davidson College, a great 
grandson of Craighead succeeded to his pulpit, John Madison Mc- 
Knitt Caldwell, the son of S. C. Caldwell, and served them till the 
year 1845. 

" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like 
his. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth, 
yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their 
works do follow them." 

The immediate successor of Mr. Craighead was Joseph Alexan- 
der, a connexion of the McKnitt branch of Alexanders, a man of 
education and talents, of small stature, and exceedingly animated in 
his pulpit exercises. Licensed by New Castle Presbytery in 1767, 
in October of that year he presented his credentials to Hanover 
Presbytery at the Bird church, in Goochland, and accepted a call from 
13 



194 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Sugar Creek. His ordination took place with that of Mr. David 
Caldwell on March 4th, 1768, at Buffalo. He read his lecture on 
John, 3d Chapter, 3d to 5th verse, on the third of March, and also 
his trial sermon on the words — " There is one mediator between God 
and man, the man Christ Jesus." Mr. Pattello presided at the in- 
stallation. On the third Friday in May, Mr. Caldwell performed 
the services of his installation as pastor of Sugar Creek. 

A fine scholar, he, in connection with Mr. Benedict, taught a clas- 
sical school of high excellence and usefulness. From Sugar Creek 
he removed to Bullock's Creek, South Carolina, and was long 
known in the church as a minister and teacher of youth for profes- 
sional life. A volume of his sermons was given to the public after 
his death. 

While the Presbyterians were laboring in vain to get a charter 
for a college, in Charlotte, confirmed by the king, the notorious 
Fanning offered to get a university of which he himself should be 
chancellor, and Mr. Joseph Alexander, who was noted as a teacher, 
should be first professor. But much as the people desired a col- 
lege and loved Alexander, they .could not take one with such a 
chancellor. 

Returning to the Brick church, we enter the grave-yard by the 
roadside on the south. The first white stone that meets the eye, 
marks the grave of S. C. Caldwell, directly beneath the communion 
table of the log church he long occupied as minister, the spot where 
he stood when he took his ordination vows, and where he chose to 
be buried when he should have finished his course. Around the 
preacher sleeps the congregation who worshipped in the house 
that stood here during the Revolution. The pastor and people and 
buikling are passed away. The children that assembled here, in 
Revolutionary times, have grown old, and scarcely here and there 
one remains to tell the history of the exploits and sufferings of the 
war, and the traditions of the settlement. The man that sleeps in 
that grave led the flock of his grandfather through the troublesome 
times that succeeded the Revolution, when the infidelity of France 
rolled its burning waves with fury across the whole continent. 

Samuel C. Caldwell, the son of David Cahhvell of Guilford, and 
grandson of Alexander Craighead, was licensed to preach the gos- 
pel, when but nineteen years of age, by the Presbytery of Orange. 
Dr. Hall, of Iredell, used his influence, and none knew how to exer- 
cise it better with young men, in persuading him to accept the call 
made by his grandfather's congregation ; and preached the ordina- 
tion sermon on February 21st, 1792, at which time Mr. Caldwell 



CHURCH OF SUGAR "CREEK. 195 

became Pastor of Sugar Creek and Hopewell churches. The five 
years that elapsed between his licensure and ordination had much 
of it been spent in these congregations ; and the success attending 
his ministry led the people earnestly to desire his settlement. Dr. 
Hall, in a note to the sermon delivered on the occasion of his ordi- 
nation, says, — " Under Mr. Caldwell's first ministrations in those 
congregations, it pleased God to send a reviving time, in conse- 
quence of which, there were upwards of seventy young communi- 
cants admitted to the Lord's table in one day." 

He resided for a time with David Robinson by the famous Spring ; 
and John Robinson, the son, afterwards pastor of Poplar Tent, pur- 
sued his studies for the ministry in the same room with him. 

Being united in marriage with Abigail Bane, the daughter of 
John M'Knitt Alexander, he took his residence in Hopewell. After 
her death, which occurred in 1802, leaving him with two motherless 
children, circumstances occurred which led to his giving u- the 
charge of Hopewell in 1805, and he removed to Sugar Creek, giving 
three-fourths of his time to Sugar Creek ; the other fourth of his 
labors he expended at Charlottetown for a time ; then at Paw Creek 
till a church was organized, w^hich he relinquished to Mr. William- 
son ; and then at Mallard Creek till a church was organized there. 
In 1805 he opened a classical school, which he carried on for years 
with the approbation of Presbytery, as expressed on their minutes. 

His second wife was a daughter of Robert Lindsay, of Guilford, 
who bore him nine children. 

' Of great self-command, clear in his conception of truth, and plain 
in his enunciation both in style and manner, amiable in his dispo- 
sition and manners, kind from his natural feelings, and from the 
benevolence of the gospel he loved and preached, a lover of the 
truth, he passed his whole ministerial life, after his ordination, in 
connection with the prominent congregation that had called him to 
be pastor. His modesty and mildness might have led an inexperi- 
enced or hasty enemy to suppose that he might be easily turned 
from his purpose, or driven to silence by vehement, clamorous oppo- 
nents. But the manner in which he met opposition, so kind and 
yet so entirely unflinching, so willing to do justice to his opponents, 
and so devoted to the cause of truth and righteousness, made all 
friends feel that any cause was safe in his hands; and his 
enemies, that it w^as easier to attack him than to drive him from his 
position, or come off honorably from the contest. 

In the infidel controversy which came upon him soon after his 
settlement, men learned tp love him, even if unconvinced by his ar- 



196 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

guments. And when he was harshly charged, because he would not 
yield his owti pulpit and his long accustomed hour of preaching to 
his people, for the purpose of permitting efforts to be made to divide 
his congregation, the perfect coolness and unwavering resolution 
with which he met the assault, tempered the storm to a harmless 
breeze. He had enough of the cool and calm resolution of his 
father, David Caldwell, of Guilford, the sixth minister in Carolina, 
to make him immoveable, when he felt convinced ; and enough of 
the warm heart and ardent piety of his mother, the daughter of 
Craighead, to make him both lovely and beloved. 

Hall of Iredell came down like a torrent, a storm, a tempest ; 
his friend Wilson, of Rocky River, poured out his common sense 
views of gospel truth like a steady day's rain ; his neighbor and inti- 
mate Robinson, of Poplar Tent, was like a summer day wnth a storm 
of lightning and thunder rending the oaks ; Wallis, of Providence, 
like a hot sun that melted by its direct rays ; while Caldwell, of 
Sugar Creek, was like the sunshine and showers of April. His 
people loved him; and felt they could do nothing else. The 
memory of the righteous is blessed. 

His epitaph was drawn up by his friend Wilson, of Rocky River. 

Sacred 

to the memory of the late 

Rev. Samuel C. Caldwell, 

who departed this life 

Oct. 3d, 1S-2G, 

in the 59th year of his age, 

and the Soth of his pastoral 

office of Sugar Creek Congregation. 

His long and harmonious continuance 

in that relation 

is his best Eulogium. 

The Rev. Hall Morrison, his successor, became the pastor of the 
church in 1827, and continued for ten years, preaching a fourth part 
of his time in Charlotte-town. In 1837, he was removed to the 
Presidential chair of Davidson College. 

His successor was John M. M. Caldwell, the son of S. C. Caldwell 
and Abigail Bane Alexander, who resigned his office in 1845, and 
removed to Georgia. A younger son is a minister of the gospel in 
South Carolina. Who shall say that the covenant of God is not vi- 
sited from the fathers to the children, in the infinite mercy of God ? 

Step a little further into the middle of the yard, under the shade 
of these old oaks, and you may read on an humble stone, the name 
of one that will never be forgotten in Carolina, the Chairman of 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 197 

the Convention of 1775, and of the Committee of Public Safety 
that succeeded, and an elder of the church. 



Abraham Alexander, 

died April 23d, 17S6, 

Aged 68 years. 

" Let me die tlie death of the 

Kighteous, and let my last 

end be like his." 



That he was a leading magistrate of the county, will be seen, by 
inspecting the records of the court of Mecklenburg, now in the 
clerk's office in Charlotte, the county seat. 

As you look round upon the numerous headstones, you perceive 
that the Alexander family must have been very numerous in the 
time of the Revolution, and since, in Mecklenburg. Of the same 
original stock, they were of different degrees of consanguinity. 
The tradition of their emigration from Ireland to America is sin- 
gular. Among the emigrations from Scotland to Ireland, and from 
Ireland to Scotland, during the period intervening 1610 and 1688, 
to which the Presbyterians were driven as the means of escape 
from persecution for conscience sake, there was one to Ireland, in 
which seven brothers of the name of Alexander formed part. Un- 
able to endure the harassing interference which became more and 
more grievous the few years preceding the Revolution in 1688, 
many of the ministers being put in prison for holding a fast, and 
the private members of the church suffering oppressions equally 
intolerable, they turned their eyes to America. A plan was 
formed for their transportation to the New World. On the eve 
of their departure, they sent to Scotland for their old preacher, to 
baptize their children, and administer the consolations of the gospel. 
The minister, a faithful and fearless man, came ; the families and 
their effects were embarked, the ordinances of the gospel were ad- 
ministered in quietness, on board the vessel, and with a solemnity 
becoming the occasion. An armed company, that had been prowling 
about, came on board, broke up the company, and lodged the minis- 
ter in gaol. Towards night, the old matron, who had been piously 
covenanting for her grand-children, addressed the alarmed com- 
pany, "Men, gang ye awa', tak our minister out o' the jail, and 
tak him, good soule, with us to Ameriky." Her voice had never 
been disobeyed. Before morning, the minister was on board, and 
the vessel out of the harbor. Having no family, the minister 
cheerfully proceeded on the voyage, and with many prayers and 



198 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

thanksgivings, they were landed on the island of Manhattan, where 
the city of New York now stands. Part of the company remained 
on Manhattan, and one of their descendants, William Alexander, 
was known in the war of the Revolution, a Major-General in the 
American service, and commonly called Lord Sterhng, having suc- 
ceeded to an estate and the title. The others took up their abode 
for a time in Jersey, and then removed to Pennsylvania. There they 
intermarried, and mingled with their countrymen, and their de- 
scendants, in great nmnbers, emigrated to the Catawba. 

Families by the name of Alexander were the most numerous in 
Mecklenburg at the time of the Revolution ; next to them was the 
Harris connexion ; these two, with their kindred, embraced at that 
time about one-third of the county. 

The log meeting-house that stood here, whose foundations you 
may in part see, the second occupied by the congregation that now 
worship in that brick house, was the place of worship while Mrs. 
Jackson, and her son, Andrew, made Sugar Creek their refuge. 
The widow, an emigrant from Ireland, had buried her husband on 
the Waxhaw, then claimed by North Carolina, but now within the 
settled bounds of South Carolina, and, compelled by the sufferings of 
war, had fled for refuge to Mecklenburg. 

After the fall of Charleston, the British army spread out over 
the country. Col. Buford, from Bedford, Virginia, moving along 
the Waxhaw, as he supposed, out of danger, was suddenly set upon 
by Tarleton, who had been upon his trail. The soldiers were pre- 
paring their breakfast, and as the British came in sight, there was 
much discussion whether they should fight a superior force, or 
abandon the field to the enemy. It was finally resolved to fight it 
out to the last, by the determined course of Capt. W^allace, from 
Rockbridge, Virginia. Tarleton, in his account of the battle, says, 
that he sent a flag, and proposed a surrender ; that, finally, the ne- 
gotiation was broken off by the two following communications : 

1st. From Tarleton to Buford. May 29th,' 1780. 

{After making preparations for Bvford's surrender in five 
articles, which, he said, could not he repeated.) " If you are rash 
enough to reject them, the blood be upon your head." 

2d. The laconic reply of Buford. Waxhaw, May 29th, 1780. 

" Sir, — I reject your proposals, and shall defend myself to the 
last extremity. 

" I have the honor to be, 

" Alex. Buford, Col." 

The event of the battle is well known. Before night, the Wax- 



CHURCH OF SUGAR CREEK. 199 

haw meeting-house was a hospital, and Buford's regiment killed, 
womided, or dispersed. The females and children fled to escape 
the ravaging track of the relentless enemy. Mrs. Jackson took up 
her abode with her two children, in Sugar Creek congregation, 
with widow Wilson, and remained a part of the summer. 

This brave woman, and two of her sons, perished in the war, and 
left her youngest son a solitary member of the family. Her death 
was occasioned by a fever, brought on by a visit to Charleston, to 
carry necessaries to some friends and relations on board the prison- 
ship, whose deplorable sufferings, she, with four or five other ladies, 
was permitted to relieve. On her way home, she was seized with 
the prison fever, and soon ended her days. Somewhere between 
what was then called " Quarter-house" and the city of Charleston 
is her unknown grave. 

Men have often wondered how her son Andrew, in his most 
thoughtless days, always treated a faithful minister of the gospel so 
respectfully ; and why, after encouraging his wife in a religious life, 
he himself should, in his age, become a member of the Presbyterian 
church. The cause is found laid deep in his childhood. His mother 
was a member of the Waxhaw congregation, and he had seen and 
felt the influence of faithful ministers when a child. 

Turning towards the middle of the yard, you may read the simple 
memorial of Mrs. Flinn, the widowed mother of the Rev. Andrew 
Flinn, D.D., w^ho held an eminent place among the clergy of North 
and South Carolina, whose childhood was passed in Sugar Creek, 

Along this great road diatt passes this yard and house, the British 
forces pursued the armed band that had been collected for the tem- 
porary defence of Charlotte ; and a little beyond that hill, fell 
Major Locke, and a little further on, Graham was wounded. Near 
by, lives Aunt Susy, who, with her mother, watched and trembled 
over him the night he lay exhausted after that sad day's encounter, 
when, as the British historian says, " that company of horsemen be- 
hind the Court-house, kept in check the whole British army." 



200 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XV. 

HOPEWELL, AND THE RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 

Ten miles west from Davidson College, and two east from the 
Catawba River, in Mecklenburg county, stands Hopewell church, 
i^ntering near the northwest corner, on the north side of the bury- 
ing ground which lies a little south of the church, and going 
diagonally to the middle of the yard, you will find a low gi-ave- 
stone, on the top of which are sculptured two drawn swords, and 
beneath them the motto, Arma Libertatis. The inscription is — 

In 

Memory 

of 

Francis Bradley, 

A friend of his country, 

and privately slain 

by the enemies of his 

country, Nov. 14th, 

1780, aged 37 years. 

Tradition says that this man was the largest and stoutest man in 
the country — hated by the few tories — and much desired as a 
prisoner by the British officers, for the activity and energy with 
which he harassed their scouts and foraging parties, and the fatal 
aim of his gun in taking off their sentries, particularly while the 
army lay at Charlotte. 

On the day of his death, seeing four tories lurking near his 
house, he took his gun and went to capture them, or drive them 
from his neighborhood. A scuffle ensued, in which one of the 
tories succeeded in wresting his gun from his hand, and with it 
gave him a fatal wound. 

Near by this stone you may observe a brick wall about six feet 
long, and two feet high, without any inscription : that is upon the 
grave of General Davidson, who fell by the rifle-shot of a tor>', 
at Cowan's Ferry, a few miles distant from this place, as he was 
resisting the crossing of tlie British army, in 1781, when Morgan 
and Green were conveying the prisoners, taken at the Cowpens, 
to Virginia, for safe keeping. After the army of the enemy had 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 201 

passed on, his friend Captain Wilson, whose grave is near by, 
found him plundered and stripped of every garment ; laying him 
across his horse, he brought him hastily by night to this place of 
sepulture. 

Congress voted a monument to this man — most beloved in his 
county — a sacrifice to the public welfare. But the resolution has 
slept on the records of the Congress, — and the grave of the 
general is without an inscription. 

The college, patronized by his children and friends, bears his 
name, and is rising in usefulness and reputation. 

By the east wall is a row of marble slabs, all bearing the name 
of Alexander. On one is this short inscription : — 

John McKnitt Alcxaiider, 

who departed this life July 10th, 1S17. 

Aged 84. 

This is upon the grave of the Secretary of the Convention in 
Charlotte, in 1775. By his side rests his wife, Jane Bane. 

At a little distance southwardly is the grave of the late pastor 
of this congregation, John Williamson. 

Ephraim Brevard, the penman of the Declaration, and Hezekiali 
Alexander, the clearest-headed magistrate of the county, sleep in 
this yard in unknown graves. 

Hopewell and Sugar Creek are cotcmporaries in point of settle- 
ment, though, in church organization. Sugar Creek has the pre- 
eminence. The families were from the same original stock in 
the North of Ireland ; some were born in Pennsylvania, and some 
only sojourned there for a time ; they were connected by affinity 
and consanguinity ; and more closely united by mutual exposures 
in the wilderness, and the ordinances of the gospel, which were 
highly prized. 

Scattered settlements were made along the Catawba, from 
Beattie's to Mason's Ford, some time before the country became 
the object of emigration to any considerable extent, probably about 
the year 1740. As the extent and fertility of the beautiful prairies 
became known, the Scotch-Irish, seeking for settlements, began 
to follow the traders' path, and join the adventurers in this south- 
ern and western frontier. By 1745, the settlements, in what is 
now Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties, were numerous ; and 
about 1750, and onward for a few years, the settlements grew 
dense for a frontier, and were uniting themselves into congrega- 



202 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tions, for the purpose of enjoying the ministrations of the gospel 
in the Presbyterial form. The foundations for Sugar Creek, 
Hopewell, Steel Creek, New Providence, Poplar Tent, Rocky 
River Centre, and Thyatira, were laid almost simultaneously : 
Rocky River was most successful in obtaining a settled pastor. 
The others received the church organization and bounds during 
the visit of Rev. Messrs. McWhorter and Spencer ,'^sent by the 
Synod of Philadelphia for that purpose, in the year 1764. Mis- 
sionaries began to traverse the country very early, sent out by 
the Synod of Philadelphia, and the different Presbyteries of New 
Brunswick, New Castle, and Donegal. 

The enterprising settlers, inured to toil, were hardy and long 
lived. The constitutions that grew up in Irelard and Pennsylva- 
nia seemed to gather strength and suppleness from the warm cli- 
mate and fertile soil of their new abodes. Most of the settlers 
lived long enough to witness the dawning of that prosperity that 
awaited their children. They sought the union of liberty, and 
property, and religious privilege for their posterity. Year after 
year were " supplications " sent to Pennsylvania and Jersey for 
ministers, or missionaries, and effort after effort was made to re- 
tain these visitors as settled pastors, but all in vain, previously to 
1756 ; when the troubles from the Indian war, called Braddock's 
war, united with the wishes of the people, and three Presbyterian 
ministers were settled in Carolina in that year, or preparations 
were made for their settlement — Craighead, and M'Aden, and 
Campbell. Those were days of log cabins and plain fare, when 
carriages were unknown, and the sight of wheels was an era in the 
settlements. "That man was the first that crossed the Yadkin 
with wheels," designated the man in whose house the first court in 
Mecklenburg was held. 

" Times are greatly altered," said old Mr. Alexander some 
thirty years ago, on a summer evening, to the Rev. Alexander 
Flinn, D.D., of Charleston, South Carolina, who came to visit his 
venerated benefactor, in his carriage, with his wife and servants, 
" times are greatly altered, Andy, since you went to college in 
your tow cloth pantaloons," said the old man, with a welcome of 
gladness mingled with fear, lest the simplicity of his youth had 
been perverted in that flourishing city. 

And times were greatly altered with both, since their youth, 
when the one came to Mecklenburg just " out of his time," and 
the other left his widowed mother under the patronage of his 
friend, to enter upon a college life. Both commenced life in hon 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 203 

orable poverty, — both were enterprising in a young country, — and 
both were eminently successful in that course of life in which 
choice, and providential circumstances, had led them to put forth 
their strength. 

John McKnitt Alexander, descended from Scotch-Irish ances- 
tors, was born in Pennsylvania, near the Maryland line, in 1733. 
Having served his apprenticeship to the tailor's trade, he followed 
the tide of his kinsmen and countrymen, who were then seeking 
an abode beyond the Yadkin, in the pastures of the deer and buf- 
falo. The emigrants, a church-going and church-loving people 
in the " green isle," carried to their new home all the habits and 
manners of their mother, the wild and strange residence in Caro- 
lina permitted. A church-going people are a dress-loving people. 
The sanctity and decorum of the house of God are inseparably 
associated with a decent exterior ; and the spiritual, heavenly ex- 
ercises of the inner man are incompatible with a defiled and tat- 
tered, or slovenly mein. All regular Christian assemblies culti- 
vate a taste for dress, and none more so than the hardy pioneer 
settlers of Upper Carolina, and the valley and mountains of Vir- 
ginia. In their approach to the King of Kings, in company with 
their neighbors, the men, resting from their labors, washed their 
hands and shaved their faces, and put on their best and carefully 
preserved dress. Their wives and daughters, attired in their best, 
as they assembled at the place of worship, were the more lovely 
in the sight of their friends. The privations of the new settle- 
ment were for a time forgotten ; and the greetings at the place of 
assemblage, from Sabbath to Sabbath, or whenever they could 
assemble to hear the gospel, spoke the commingled feelings of 
friendship and religion. 

The young tailor knew the spirit of his countrymen, and came 
to seek his fortune with the poor, but spirited and enterprising peo- 
ple. Few of them had much money, and many of them had none. 
In paying for their lands, the skins of the deer and buffalo that 
had fed them, were taken on pack-horses to Charleston and Phila- 
delphia, as the most ready means of obtaining the necessary funds. 
Years necessarily passed before the cattle and horses they took 
with them to the wild pastures were multiplied sufficiently for 
home consumption or for traffic ; about the time of the Revolution- 
ary war, they constituted the available means, the wealth of the 
country, as cotton has been in years past. 

The young man brought his ready made clothes, and cloths to 
be made to order, and trafficked with his countrymen, transporting 



204 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

his peltry on liorseback to the city, and returning with a fresh sup- 
ply of goods, till the droves of cattle and horses taken to the mar- 
kets, supplied the inhabitants with silver and gold for their neces- 
sary uses. In about five years, in the year 1759, he married Jane 
Bane, from Pennsylvania, of the same race with himself, and 
settled in Hopewell congregation. His permanent abode has been 
known by the name of Alexandriana. Prospered in his business, 
he soon became wealthy, and an extensive landholder, and rising 
in the estimation of his fellow citizens, was promoted to the ma- 
gistracy, and the eldership of the Presbyterian church, the only 
church between the two rivers. Shrewd, enterprising, and suc- 
cessful, a man of principle and inspiring respect, — in less than 
twenty years from his first crossing the Yadkin, he was agitating 
with his fellow citizens of Mecklenburg, the rights of persons, of 
property, and conscience, — and resisting the encroachments of the 
king, through his unprincipled and tyrannical officers, that oppress- 
ed, without fear and without restraint, the inhabitants of Upper 
North Carolina. 
, In less than one quarter of a century after the first permanent 
settlement was formed in Mecklenbiu-g, men talked of defending 
their rights, not against the Indians, but the officers of the crown ; 
and took those measures that eventuated in the Convention of 
May 20th, 1775, to deliberate on the crisis of their affairs. Of the 
persons chosen to meet in that assembly, one was a Presbyterian 
minister, Hezekiah James Balch, of Poplar Tent ; seven were 
known to be Elders of the Church — Abraham Alexander, of Su- 
gar Creek, John McKnitt Alexander and Hezekiah Alexander, of 
Hopewell, David Reese, of Poplar Tent, Adam Alexander and 
Robert Queary, of Rocky River (now in the bounds of Philadel- 
phia), and Robert Irwin, of Steel Creek ; two others were elders, 
but in the deficiency of church records, their names not known 
with certainty, but the report of tradition is, without variation, 
that nine of the members were elders, and the other two are sup- 
posed to have been Ephraim Brevard and John Pfifer. Thus ten 
out of the twenty-seven were office-bearers in the church ; and 
all were connected with the congregations of the Presbyteries in 
Mecklenburg. 

The Declaration issued by this Convention is the admiration of 
the present generation, and will be of generations to^the end of 
time, — THE FIRST Declaration of Independence in North 
America. At a hasty view, this declaration made by a colony on 
the western frontier of an American province, may seem rash and 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. ' 205 

unreasonable ; but when the race and the creed of the people, and 
their habits, are taken into consideration, we wonder at their for- 
bearance ; this classic declaration expressed a deep settled pur- 
pose, which the ravages of the British army, in succeeding years, 
could not shake. 

Neither the Congress of the United Provinces, then in session, 
nor the Congress of the Province of North Carolina, which assem- 
bled in August of the same year, were prepared to second the de- 
claration of Mecklenburg ; though the latter appointed committees 
of safety in all the counties, similar to the committee in Mecklen- 
burg. The papers of the Convention were preserved by the 
seci-ctary, John McKnitt Alexander, till the year 1800, when they 
were destroyed, with his dwelling, by fire. But the Rev. Hum- 
phrey Hunter and General Graham, who both had heard the Decla- 
ration read on the 20th of May, 1775, had obtained copies, which 
have been preserved, and Mr. Alexander gave one himself to Ge- 
neral Davie some time previously to the fire. 

Judge Cameron, of Raleigh, President of the State Bank, who 
was for many years a practising lawyer in the Salisbury District, 
and afterwards a judge, says that he was well acquainted with 
Mr. Alexander, who was frequently brought to court as a witness 
in land cases, having been for many years a crown surveyor in 
Mecklenburg. There was little regularity in taking up lands ; and 
claims were found to clash, and frequent lawsuits were the conse- 
quence, and Mr. Alexander was appealed to for bounds and lines. 
Being a sensible and Social, dignified man, an acquaintance com- 
menced which was ended only by the death of Mr. Alexander. 
The Judge says that the matters of a revolutionary nature were 
frequently the subject of conversation ; and among others, the cir- 
cumstances of the Declaration. Some time after the fire that con- 
sumed Mr. Alexander's dwelling and many of his valuable papers, 
he met the old man in Salisbury. Referring to the fire, Mr. Alex- 
ander lamented the loss of the original copy of that document, but 
consoled himself by saying, that he had himself given a copy to 
General Davie some time before, which he knew to be correct ; 
so, says he, " the document is safe.'" That copy is in the hands of 
the present governor of North Carolina ; and is in part the author- 
ity for the copy given in the first chapter of this work. The 
copies of Hunter and Graham rest upon the honor of those two 
unimpeachable men. Happily, they entirely agree with the copy 
given to- General Davie, as far as that has been preserved. 

The last interview the Jud.ffe had with Mr. Alexander was in 



206 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Salisbury. Nearly blind with age and infirm, he was brought down 
to the court as an evidence in a land case. The venerable old 
man sat in the bar-room, listening to the voices of the company, 
as they came in. " Is that you, Cameron?" said he, as the sound 
of his voice fell upon his ear, " I know that voice, though I cannot 
well see the man." Infirm, he was dignified : with white hair 
and almost sightless eyes, his mental powers remained. The 
past and the future were to him more than the present; in the one 
he had acted his part well, in the other he had hope ; but the pre- 
sent had lost its beauty. He recounted, in the course of the inter- 
views he had with the Judge, during the intervals of court, the 
events of the Revolution, particularly those in which Mecklenburg 
took the lead, and referred to the copy of the Declaration he had 
given to Davie as being certainly correct. 

Mr. Alexander, as an elder in the Presbyterian church, was 
frequently appointed by the Synod of the Carolinas, during the 
twenty-four years the two States were associated ecclesiastically, 
on important business for the Synod, and for a number of years 
was its treasm-er. Of undoubted honesty, and unquestioned reli- 
gion, he finished his earthly existence at the advanced age of four- 
score and one years. 

The reason for the obscurity in which the proceedings of the 
Convention in Charlotte were for a time buried may be found in 
the facts, — first, the county in which they took place was far 
removed from any large seaport, or trading city ; was a frontier, 
rich in soil, and productions, and men, but poor in money, — with 
no person that had attracted public notice, like the Lees and Henry, 
of Virginia, for eloquence, — or like Ashe, of their own distant sea- 
board, for bravery, — or like Hancock, of Massachusetts, for dignity 
in a public assembly, — or Jefferson, for political acumen : and, 
second, the National Declaration in 1776, with the war that 
followed, so completely absorbed the minds of the whole nation, 
that eff'orts of the few, however patriotic, were cast into tlie shade. 
In the joy of National Independence, the particular part any man, 
or body . of men, may have acted, was overlooked ; and in the 
bright scenes spread out before a young Republic, the Colonial 
politics shared the fate of the soldiers and officers that bore the 
fatigues and endured the miseries of the seven years' war. Men 
were too eager to enjoy Liberty, and push their speculations to 
become rich, to estimate the worth of those patriots, whose history 
will be better known by the next generation, and whose honors 
will be duly appreciated. 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 207 

Some publications were made on this subject in the Raleigli 
Register in 1819, and for a time public attention was drawn to the 
subject in different parts of the country. About the year 1830, 
some publications were made, calling in question the authenticity 
of the document, as being neither a true paper, nor a paper of a true 
convention. Dr. Joseph McKnitt Alexander, inheriting the resi- 
dence, and much of the spirit of his father, the secretary, felt 
himself moved to defend the honor of his parent, and the noble 
men that were associated in the county of Mecklenburg. Letters 
were addressed to different individuals who either had taken a part 
in the spirited transactions of 1775, or had been spectators of those 
scenes that far outstripped in patriotic daring the State at large, 
or even the Congress assembled in Philadelphia. The attention 
of all the survivors of Revolutionary times was awaked ; their 
feelings were aroused ; and they came on all sides to the rescue 
of those men who had pledged " their lives, their fortunes, and 
their most sacred honor ^ 

The Rev. Humphrey Hunter, who had preached in Steel Creek 
many years, within a few miles of Charlotte, and for a number of 
years in Unity and Goshen, in Lincoln, a short distance from the 
residence of Mr. Alexander, sent to the son a copy of the Decla- 
ration, together with a history of the Convention, of which he was 
an eye-witness. General Graham, who had grown up near 
Charlotte, had been high-sheriff of the county, and was an actor in 
the Revolution, and an eye-witness 'of the Convention, did the 
same. From their accounts, the historical relation in the first 
chapter of this volume was taken. Captain Jack, who carried the 
declaration to Philadelphia, gave his solemn asservation of the 
facts, as an eye-witness of the Convention, and as its messenger to 
Congress. John Davidson, a member of the Convention, gave his 
solemn testimony, writing from memory, and not presenting any 
copy of the doings, but asserting the facts and general principles 
of the Convention. The Rev. Dr. Cummins, who had been 
educated at Queen's Museum, in Charlotte, and was a student at 
the time of the Convention, affirmed, that repeated meetings were 
held in the hall of Queen's Museum, by the leading men in Meck- 
lenburg, discussing the business to be brought before the conven- 
tion when assembled. Colonel Polk, of Raleigh, who was a 
youth at the time, and who repeatedly read over the paper to 
different circles on that interesting occasion, affirmed and defended 
the doings of his father, at whose call, by unanimous consent, the 
delegates assembled. Many, less known to the public, sent their 



208 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAKOLINA. 

recollections of the events of 19th and 20th of May. A file of 
New York papers, published during the Revolution, gives the 
declaration and doings of May 30th, in which independence is 
asserted in language as strong as in the paper of the 20th, and the 
civil government of Mecklenburg was arraigned, a government 
that was paramount till after the meeting of the first North Caro- 
lina Provincial Congress. A file of Massachusetts papers, printed 
at the same time, gives the same documents. Relying on these 
affirmations and documents, the son rested securely for his father's 
honor, and the honest fame of his compeers. By the order of the 
legislature of North Carolina, these facts and assertions were made 
a public document. There remains not a man at this day, who 
saw the assembly of delegates in Mecklenburg. Happily, the 
son collected the evidences of his father's political honor, before 
the witnesses had all passed to the land where the truth needs no 
such evidence, and had joined the band of innnortal patriots. 

The names of the persons composing the convention, as given 
in the State documents collected by Dr. J. McKnitt Alexander, 
are as follows : 

Abraham Alexander — Chairman. 
John McKnitt Alexander — Secretary. 
Ephraim Brevard — Secretary. 
Rev. Hezekiah J. Balch, Charles Alexander, 

John Pfifcr, Zaccheus Wilson, jun., 

James Harris, Waightstill Avery, 

William Kennon, Benjamin Patton, 

John Ford, Matthew McClure, 

Richard Barry, Neill Morrison, 

Henry Downe, Robert Irwin, 

Ezra Alexander, John Fleimiken, 

William Graham, David Reese, 

John Queary, John Davidson, 

Hezekiah Alexander, Richard Harris, jun., 

Adam Alexander, Thomas Polk. 

In searching his father's papers that escaped the fire, he came 
across another document of exceeding value, in the handwriting 
of Ephraim Brevard, the draughtsman of the Declaration, giving, 
under the name of Instructions to the Members of the Provincial 
Congress in 1775, the ideas of civil and religious liberty held by 
these patriotic men. This paper is given in full in the third chap- 
ter, and gives an opportunity of judging whether the views of 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 209 

liberty held by these have or have not had the sanction of the 
people of the United States. 

A friend that knew the son, gives the following obituary notice : 
"Died, on the 17th ultimo (Nov., 1841), at Alexandria, the time- 
honored seat of his ancestors, in Mecklenburg county, N. C, Dr. 
J. McKnitt Alexander, in the 67th year of his age, 

" Dr. Alexander was an alumnus of Princeton College in its 
palmiest days. He had early developed indications of not only 
genius and talents, but the highest attributes of intellect, sound 
judgment and profound thinking. One of the usages of the enlight- 
ened, estimable, and Christian community in which he was reared, 
was, that each family should educate one son and devote him to 
the service of the Church. In accordance with this excellent 
usage, it was determined by his parents that the natural endow- 
ments of Joseph should receive the culture and finish of a thorough 
collegiate education, and the school at Princeton was selected for 
the purpose. Here erudition and science matured the germs of 
usefulness and distinction,which had in his boyhood given such high 
promise of a fruitful harvest. He graduated with eclat, and re- 
turned to his native home — not, as had been fondly hoped by his pious 
parents, to engage in the study of divinity, and to consecrate him- 
self to the holy ministry. This, their cherished expectation, to 
their bitter disappointment, was never realized. He studied 
medicine under a distinguished preceptor, and after becoming 
thoroughly indoctrinated in the ^'JEscuIapian mysteries," engaged 
in the practice of physic, from which he acquired not only profes- 
sional reputation but wealth and even affluence. The pure duties 
of humanity imposed upon him by his profession, were ever per- 
formed with punctuality and cheerfulness, and throughout his long 
life, no citizen had a more enviable character for integrity, public 
spirit, and private virtue. He was distinguished for his practical 
judgment and plain common sense — a trait the more remarkable as 
it was accompanied in him with the scintillations of genius and the 
sprightliness of a vigorous imagination. He thought quick, yet 
deep and accurately. What others found by pains-taking, search 
and tedious investigation, he obtained intuitively. To look at a 
subject at all, was to penetrate it with an eagle's glance, to touch 
was to dissect, to handle was to unravel. He wrote well, yet 
his productions possessed few of the embellishments of art and 
none of the ornaments of style, though always enlivened and bril- 
liant from the flashes of a true and innate eloquence." 

"Doctor Alexander, though a child of the church, and the son of 
14 



210 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAKOLINA. 

the most exemplary and pious parents, had passed the meridian 
of hfe before he became a professor of rehgion. Does the pride 
of intellect or the glitter of human learning lead us to doubt the 
truth of divine revelation ? The avalanche of infidelity, put in 
motion about the period of the Doctor's maturity by Montesquieu, 
Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, BufTon, and Rousseau, threatened to 
extinguish the best hopes of man, and deluge our sin ruined 
world with a cold and cheerless scepticism. The infection of 
this poison may have temporarily obhterated the lessons of his 
youth, or weakened their influence upon his principles ; it was 
never able, however, to seduce him from the paths of virtue. His 
purity, his probity, his honor remained unscathed by the lightning 
of the French philosophy. It may for a time have diverted his 
attention from spiritual things, but when ambition became chas- 
tened by age, in the maturity of his intellect, and at a period of 
life most favorable for a calm and deliberate examination of the 
great truths of the Christian's Bible, and the Christian's faith, 
and the Christian's hope, he beheved that Bible, he exercised that 
faith, he was animated by that hope. He became a worshipper 
of the God of his fathers, connected himself with the Presbyterian 
church, and continued through life, until the infirmities of old age 
prevented, to be active in the promotion of its interests, in alle- 
viating and ameliorating the condition of men." 

" Beyond the flight of time, 
Beyond the vale of death, 
There surely is some blessed clime 
Where life is not a breath." 

After its organization, in 1765, Hopewell was for a time asso- 
ciated with Centre in maintaining tlie ordinances of the gospel. 
But at the time that Rev. S. C. Caldwell was called to the church 
and congregation of Sugar Creek, this church united in the call, 
and afterwards engaged the pastoral services of that faithful man, 
till 1805, when he removed from their bounds, and gave up the 
care of the church. 

During the time of Mr. Caldwell's ministry, the two sessions 
of the churches under his care, feeling the pressure that was 
upon them, formed a union for mutual help. The following pa- 
per reveals the spirit. 

"May 15th, 1793. The Sessions of Sugar Creek and Hope- 
well had a full meeting on the central ground, at Mr. Mens. Rob- 
inson's, and entered into a numljcr of resolutions, as laws for the 
government of both churches." 



RECORDS OF THE CONVENTION. 2ll 

" North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, ) 
May 5th, 1793. S 

" We, the Sessions of Sugar Creek and Hopewell congrega- 
tions, having two separate and distinct churches, sessions and 
other officers for the peace, convenience, and well-ordering of 
each society, and all happily united under their present pastor, 
Samuel C. Caldwell, yet need much mutual help from each 
other in regard of our own weakness and mutual dependence, and 
also in regard to our enemies from without. Therefore, in order 
to make our union the more permanent, and to strengthen each 
other's hands in the bonds of unity and Christian friendship, have, 
this 15th flay of May, 1793, met in a social manner, at the house 
of Mons. Robinson. Present, Robert Robinson, Sen., Hezekiah 
Alexander, Wm. Alexander, .James Robinson, Isaac Alexander, 
Thomas Alexander, and Elijah Alexander, elders in Sugar Creek. 
John M'Knitt Alexander, Robert Crocket, James Meek, James 
Henry, Wm. Henderson, and Ezekiel Alexander, elders in 
Hopewell, who, after discussing generally several topics, proceeded 
to choose Hezekiah Alexander chairman, and J. M'Knitt Alexan- 
der, clerk, and do agree to the following resolves and rules, which 
we, each for himself, promise to observe." (Then follow five 
resolutions respecting the management of the congregations, as it 
regards the support of their ministers, inculcating punctuality and 
precision ; and also respecting a division of the Presbytery of 
Orange into two Presbyteries.) 

Then follow eight permanent laws and general rules for each 
Session. The 1st concerns the manner of bringing charges 
against a member of the church, that it " shall be written and 
signed by the complainant," and that previous to trial, all mild 
means shall be used to settle the matter. 

" 2d. As a church judicature we will not intermeddle with what 
belongs to the civil magistrate, either as an officer of State, or a 
minister of justice among the citizens. The line between the 
church and state being so fine, we know not how to draw it, there- 
fore we leave it to Christian prudence and longer experience to de- 
termine." 

The other resolutions are all found in the Confession of Faith, 
in their spirit, in the rules given for the management of a single 
session, with this exception, that it was determined that in this 
joint session, " A quorum to do business shall not be less than 
a Moderator and three Elders ;" and that in matters of discipline 
there shall be " no non liquet votes permitted." 



212 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

This union of the sessions was productive of most happy con- 
sequences to the two congregations, particularly during the strug- 
gle with French infidelity, and had the effect to preserve the spirit 
of Presbyterianism, and of sound principles, and free religion. 

The elders were jealous of any intermingling of Church and 
State, even in the proceedings of sessions, and endeavored to keep 
both civil and religious freedom, entirely separating political and 
ecclesiastical proceedings as completely as possible. All the dif- 
ficulty probably arose from the fact that some of the elders were 
magistrates, and they feared lest, in the public estimation, or their 
own actions, the two oflEices might be blended in their exercise. 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 213 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HENRY PATTILLO, AND THE CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE 

COUNTIES. 

In the year 1751, the Rev. Samuel Davies, then residing in Hano- 
ver, Virginia, made an excursion for preaching, to the Roanoke. 
In the course of his journeyings, he became acquainted with Henry 
Pattillo, then a young man desirous of commencing his studies in 
preparation for the gospel ministry, and invited him to come and 
commence his course with him in Hanover. This invitation Mr. 
Pattillo at first declined, as he had engaged to go to Pennsylvania 
with another young man, and commence his studies under the care 
and tuition of the Rev. Mr. John Thomson, w^ho w^as at this time 
in Carolina on a mission, to the new settlements. 

In the year 1744, in compliance with a " representation from 
many people in North Carolina — showing their desolate condition, 
and requesting the Synod to take their condition into consideration, 
and petitioning that we would appoint one of our number to corres- 
pond with them, — Mr. Thomson, of Donegal Presbytery, was ap- 
pointed by the Synod to correspond with them. He was at this 
time on a. visit to these petitioners, and others in Carolina. Mr. 
Pattillo had once set out for Pennsylvania in the year 1750, but was 
seized by a pleurisy before he had proceeded half a day's journey, 
under the influence of which he labored the greater part of the 
winter following. Of course his journey to Pennsylvania was 
given up. While waiting in the summer of 1751 for Mr. Thom- 
son's return from Carolina, the young man who had engaged to go 
on with him to Pennsylvania, abandoned the design of preparing 
for the ministry. Mr. Pattillo then determined to accept the invita- 
tion of Mr. Davies, and on the first of August, 1751, arrived at his 
house in Hanover, and " had a kind welcome." 

On the 10th of August, 1754, while residing with Mr. Davies, he 
commenced a journal, a part of which remains, the last date being 
June 13th, 1757. He gives the following reasons for commencing 
the journal : 1st [the beginning of the sentence is wanting) — " My 
growth or decay in the divine life, and thus the blessing of God be 
actuated accordingly. 2dly, I shall thereby more accurately observe 



214 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the workings of my own heart, and the methods the Lord may take 
for my reclamation in my strayings from him. 3dly, This may, 
through the divine blessing, have a tendency to promote my watch- 
fulness and diligence, seeing I shall have a daily sentence against 
myself constantly before me, which I hope may tend to promote 
my humiliation. 4thly, By observing the dealings of God with my- 
self, I may be the better enabled to deal with others, especially if 
the Lord shall carry me through learning, and call me to the work 
of the ministry. 5thly, To mention no more, it may be of service 
to me in giving an account of my state godward, if ever I should 
come on trial for the ministry." He then proceeds to give some 
account of himself from his birth up to that time. From the frag- 
ments which remain, the following facts are gathered. 

Born in Scotland, of pious parents, who were well situated in 
point of religious privileges, he was early placed with a merchant 
to learn the duties of the counting-house. Providentially removed 
from the situation in which he was placed, he was induced to seek 
for better things in the Province of Virginia, a region to which 
many young Scotchmen turned their eyes with empty pockets, and 
hearts full of hope. Here he engaged with a merchant for a time, 
and felt in his absence from religious instructions and restraints the 
overcoming power of temptation, which for a time prevailed over 
his early instructions and pious resolutions. Leaving the counting- 
house, he commenced the employment of a teacher of children ; 
and while thus engaged his own reflections led him to painful and 
alarming convictions of sin. He describes his state of mind thus : 
" On the commission of sin, after I conceived the Almighty had 
partly forgot it, or his anger somewhat abated, I would go and con- 
fess it with many tears, and thus got ease — encompassing myself 
with sparks of my own kindhng. But I was taught by a book I got 
about this time, that I must go farther yet, and enter into special 
covenant w ith God. Well, after this I felt pretty secure, till, by the 
kind providence of God, I was brought to a congregation of Pres- 
byterians, where I had good books and preaching pretty fre- 
quently." The effect of preaching, however, was not to human 
appearance of much effect, except to make him seethe inconsistency 
of his course. After remaining a year in this congregation, he re- 
moved to another and opened his school. Of his exercises of mind 
and heart he thus writes : " Here, by what means I cannot tell, it 
being so gradual, I got such astonishing views of the method of 
salvation, and of the glorious Mediator; such sweetness in the 
duties of religion ; such a love to the ways of God ; such an entire 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 215 

resignation to and acquiescence in the divine will ; such a sincere 
desire to see men religious, and endeavor to make those so with 
whom I conversed, that after all my base ingratitude, dreadful back- 
slidings, broken vows, frequent commission of sin, loss of fervor, 
and frequently lifeless duties since that time, I must, to the eternal 
praise of boundless free grace, esteem it a work of the Holy Spirit, 
and the finger of God." 

Prayer became " his very breath," and he engaged in it as often 
as three or four times a day ; meditations on divine things filled his 
heart with joy. " I used, when alone, to speak out in meditation, 
and do esteem it an excellent medium to fix the heart on the work." 
He goes on to say about the continuance of his exercises : "Thus I 
went on my way rejoicing and serving God for the space of a year 
and a half; I was generally full of warmth, nor could I take the 
Bible or any religious book into my hand but I would find some- 
thing suited to the present state of my soul, and in my prosperity I 
thought I should never be moved." 

He notices an error he fell into about this time, — judging others' 
experience too much by its agreement or disagreement with his 
own — his intercourse with men led him to judge more favorably 
of his fellow professors, " having learned not to make my ow^n ex- 
perience a standard for others, nor confine the Almighty to one par- 
ticular way of bringing his children to himself." 

His desire to bring men to Christ led him to frequent efforts in 
private to convince and persuade ; alid from being thus engaged in 
private, he desired to be able to preach the everlasting gospel to all 
men. " I can boast of but little success in these endeavors, yet my 
feeble attempts produced in me an indescribable desire of declaring 
the same to all mankind to whom I had access ; and as I could not 
do this in a private station, I was powerfully influenced to apply to 
learning in order to be qualified to do it publicly." 

In consequence of this desire he prepared to go to Pennsylvania 
to commence his studies, but was prevented by sickness; and, 
eventually, in the year 1751, went to reside with the Rev. Samuel 
Davies in Hanover. With that eminent man he pursued his studies 
till his voyage to England in the service of Princeton College ; and 
after his return, till the time of his licensure, which took place at 
Cub Creek, then in Lunenburg county, Sept. 29th, 1758. The cer- 
tificate signed by Samuel Davies, Moderator, and John Todd, Clerk, 
is preserved, though in a mutilated condition ; its wording is some- 
what different from the form now used, as for instance — " he having 
declared his assent to, and approbation of, the Westminster Con- 



216 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

fession of Faith and Directory, as they have been adopted by the 
Synod of New York, agreeably to the practice of the Church of 
Scotland," &c. 

During his residence in Hanover, he was sustained in part by the 
kindness of friends, and in part by spending some hours each day 
in teaching, till the time of his marriage to a Miss Anderson, which 
event took place in 1755. From that time till his course of studies 
was completed he was sustained by teaching children, and by the 
resources of his wife, living, as he says in the last entry in the jour- 
nal, June 13th, 1757, in a " house 16 by 12 and an outside chimney, 
with an 8 feet shed — a little chimney to it." On the day of this 
last date the chimney of the shed was shattered by lightning, the 
rest of the house and the other chimney, which was much higher, 
together with the eleven persons in the house, himself, wife, and 
infant child, his wife's sister, six scholars and a negro boy, — all 
escaped unhurt. 

In the absence of data from his own hand, the following extracts 
from the Records of Hanover Presbytery will afford information 
respecting this interesting man, — 

" Hanover, 28th April, 1757. The Presbytery appointed Mr. 
Pattillo as piece of trial, to be delivered next June, a sermon on 
Acts xvi., 43, first part. — " To him give all the prophets witness :"^ 
and an Exegesis — " Num Poena Inferorum sit aeterna." On the ap- 
pointed day these were considered and approved. 

Cub Creek, Sept. 28th, 1757. Mr. Pattillo opened Presbytery 
with a Lecture on Daniel, 7th chapter, 19th to 27th verses : and a 
Sermon on the 27th verse of the same chapter. He was then ex- 
amined on Divinity, on his religious experience, " and on review 
of sundry trials he has passed through, they judge him qualified to 
preach the gospel ; and having declared his assent to, and appro- 
bation of, the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism, and 
Directory, as they have been adopted by the Synod of New York, 
the Presbytery doth authorize him to preach as a candidate for the 
Ministry of the Gospel, and recommend him to the acceptance of 
the Churches ; and they order Messrs. Davies and Todd to draw up 
a certificate according to the purport of this minute ; and appoint 
(Alexander Craighead) the Moderator to give him solemn instruc- 
tion and admonition with respect to the discharge of his office, 
which was done accordingly." 

Providence, 26th April, 1758. Petitions for supplies were con- 
sidered. One from Hico — " formerly under the care of the Phila- 
delphia Synod — particularly for Mr. Pattillo." Calls came in for 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 2l7 

hira also from Albemarle, Orange and Cumberland. The Presbytery 
agreed to give him till the next meeting to consider them. 

Cumberland, 12th July, 1758. " Rev. Henry Pattillo and Wm. 
Richardson have been set apart to the work of the holy ministry, by 
fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands," — a certificate ordered. 
At the same meeting he was appointed Stated Clerk. 

Hanover, Sept. 27th, 1758. Mr. Pattillo accepted a call from 
Willis, Bird and Buck Island. With these congregations he re- 
mained about four years. At a meeting of Presbytery, Providence, 
Oct. 7, 1762, he was dismissed from this charge, the people " being 
unable to give him a sufficient support." In 1763, May 4th, at 
Tinkling Spring, he agreed to supply Cumberland, Harris Creek 
and Deep Creek. With these congregations he continued about 
two years. At a meeting of Presbytery, Hico, 2d October, 1765, 
a call for his services was presented from Hawfields, Eno and Little 
River. This call he accepted, and removed to the State of North 
Carolina, and there served the church about thirty-five years in 
Orange and Granville counties. 

At a meeting of Presbytery, Buffalo, Rowan county, N. C, 
March 8th, 1770, Messrs. David Caldwell, Hugh M'Aden, Joseph 
Alexander and Henry Pattillo, and Hezekiah Balch and James 
Criswell, united in a petition to Synod to be set off as a Presbytery" 
by the name of Orange, — " where two of our ministers reside," is 
given as the reason for the name. This year the counties of Guil- 
ford, Wake, Chatham and Surrey, were set off to counteract the in- 
fluence of the regulators. 

Mr. Pattillo continued with the congregation of Hawfields, Eno 
and Little River, till the year 1774, when he removed. 

In the year 1775 he was selected for one of the delegates for the 
county of Bute (now W^arren and Franklin) to attend the first Pro- 
vincial Congress of North Carolina. Its sessions commenced August 
20th, in Hillsborough. There were two other ministers in the Con- 
gress, Green Hill, a Methodist, from Bute, and William Hill, the 
father of the present Secretary of State of North Carolina, a 
Baptist from Surrey. 

The last resolution on the first day was, " that the Rev. Henry 
Pattillo be requested to read prayers to the Congress every morning ; 
and the Rev. Charles Edward Taylor every evening during his 
stay." 

On the 29th of that month Rev. Mr. Boyd presented to the Con- 
gress 200 copies of the Pastoral letter of the Synod of Philadelphia 
on the subject of the war. They were distributed among the mem- 



218 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

bers, and a sum of money appropriated to the use of Mr. Boyd, by 
an order on the treasurers, from the public funds. Dr. Witherspoon 
of New Jersey was Chairman of the Committee that prepared the 
letter, which was unexceptionable in its principles, except in one 
point, in which it is behind the movements in Mecklenburg, — it 
speaks of reconciliation with the mother country as possible, but as 
a consequent of a vehement struggle. It however exactly suited 
the prevailing feeling in the Provincial Congress of Carolina, the 
majority of whose members w^ere not prepared to declare Independ- 
ence at that time, as appears from their proceedings on Monday, 
September 4th, on the subject of the Confederation of the United 
Colonies. 

" The Congress, resolved into a committee of the whole, have ac- 
cordingly and unanimously chosen the Rev. Mr. Pattillo, chairman ; 
and after some time spent therein came a resolution thereon." 

" On motion, Mr. President resumed the chair, and Mr. Chairman 
reported as follows, to wit :" 

" That the Committee have taken into consideration the plan of 
General Confederation between the United Colonies, and are of 
opinion that the same is not at present eligible. And it is also the 
opinion of the Committee that the Delegates for this province ought 
to be instructed not to consent to any plan of Confederation which 
may be offered in an ensuing Congress, until the same shall be laid 
before, and approved by, the Provincial Congress. 

" That the present asso«iation ought to be further relied on for 
bringing about a reconciliation with the parent state, and a further 
confederacy ought only to be adopted in case of the last necessity. 

" Then on motion resolved, — The Congress do approve of the 
above resolutions." 

At their meeting next spring in Halifax, 1776, the Congress took 
the ground of Independence some two months before the action of 
the Continental Congress, as related in the chapter on the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

It will be borne in mind that Mr. Pattillo lived in the midst of the 
Regulators; that some of their largest assemblages were in the 
bounds of his large field of labor. And while there was more igno- 
rance, than he wished to see, among his charge, could they be an 
ignorant uninformed people ? 

In the year 1780, Mr. Pattillo became the pastor of Nutbush and 
Grassy Creek, in Granville county, and gave to them his last labors, 
ripened by age and experience. These two congregations were 
composed at first of emigrants from Hanover, New Kent, and King 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 2l9 

and Queen, in Virginia, converts under the preaching of Rev. 
Samuel Davies and his coadjutors. Howel Le\vis, Daniel Grant, 
and Samuel Smith, were the leading persons in Grassy Creek. Mr. 
Lindsey, Mr. Simms and Mrs. Gilliam, the leading ones in Nut- 
bush. 

It is the tradition that the first sacramental occasion held by Pres- 
byterians in Granville was in 1763, by William Tennant, Jun. By 
order of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia the Presbytery 
of New Brunswick ordained him for a southern mission in 1762. 
His reasons for not going that year were sustained. He made a 
visit the next year, 1763, in obedience to the direction of Synod — 
" to go and supply in the bounds, and under the direction of Hano- 
ver Presbytery six months at least." The place in which the ordi- 
nance was administered was an unoccupied house belonging to 
Howel Lewis, about one mile and a half from where Grassy Creek 
Church now stands. The congregations were, it is said, regularly 
organized by Mr. James Criswell, who was licensed by Hanover 
Presbytery in 1765, and supplied these congregations for some years. 
Mr. Pattillo was his successor. 

Mr. Tennant is represented as being of a cheerful disposition. 
Finding Mr. Lewis in a state of mental depression to which he was 
subject, and desponding on the subject of religion, he made no di- 
rect effort to dispel the gloom, but entered into cheerful conversa- 
tion on the subject of salvation. Hearing Mr. Lewis order the ser- 
vant to take Mr. Tennant's horse and give him some sorry fodder 
(that is corn blades) — " you give my horse sorry fodder," exclaimed 
Mr. Tennant, as if he took the word sorry in its usual signification, 
" a pretty fellow indeed !" The suddenness of the retort changed 
the whole course of feeling in Mr. Lewis : he burst into a hearty 
laugh, and his depression was gone ; and in his attendance on the 
ministrations of the gospel from Mr. Tennant, received great com- 
fort and advantage. 

Like Mr. Tennant, Mr. Pattillo was a cheerful man, but far re- 
moved from all levity. He says he had a touch of melancholy in 
his constitution. His circumstances were always narrow, and his 
generous feelings and numerous family prevented much increase of 
his worldly possessions. His numerous calls as a faithful and popu- 
lar preacher, added to his vocation as a classical teacher, hindered 
his pursuit of knowledge, of which he had an unquenchable thirst. 
His health frequently became very delicate under his continued and 
exhausting services ; and in 1782 under the influence of ill health, 
he made a will which is yet preserved, from w^hich we extract the 



220 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

following : " I adore the blessed Providence that more especially 
watched over me and wonderfully governed my steps ; that at the 
commencement of my manhood rescued me from the ways of sin 
and the paths of the destroyer ; that made it good for me to hear 
the yoke in my youth ; that after many discouraging disappoint- 
ments which I afterwards found were merciful interpositions of di- 
vine goodness, my way was opened to an education, and I was 
carried through it, though poverty and a melancholy constitution 
darkened my prospects, and threatened to stop me at every turn. 
The same divine goodness and free mercy that had thus far indulged 
my ardent wish and daily prayer, that I might be qualified both by 
heaven's grace and human learning to preach the everlasting gos- 
pel, w^as graciously pleased to call me thereto, and set me apart by 
the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. Having, therefore, 
obtained help of God, I continue to this day, having nothing to 
complain of my adorable Master, for goodness and mercy have 
followed me all my life long ; but have to accuse myself that 
in ten thousand instances I have come short of the glory of God, 
and have been a very unprofitable servant, in not promoting to the 
utmost my own salvation and that of others. And a great aggra- 
vation of this guilt is, that wherever I have preached the gospel 
God has honored me with such a share of popularity and the favor 
of mankind, as have opened a door for much more usefulness than 
I have had zeal and diligence to improve. Look, gracious God, on 
a creature all over guilt and imperfection, through the all-perfect 
righteousness, wondrous sufferings and glorious resurrection of my 
Lord Jesus Christ, on whom I cast myself for time and eternity. 

" As to my mortal part, let it return, when He that built it pleaseth, 
to the dust from whence it was taken, and in the next burying-place 
to which I may die. I commit it to him who perfumed the grave 
for his people's calm repose; who acknowledges his relation to 
them even in the dust, and I am sure will new create it by his 
power divine." 

By a short will which he made Dec. 19th, 1800, not long before 
his death, it appears that in 1784, the " united Presbyterian con- 
gregations of Grassy Creek and Nutbush, by their ruling elders, 
purchased of Mr. Thomas Williamson and others, a tract of three 
hundred acres of land, on Spicemarrow Creek, w'hereon I now live ; 
and as the said elders commissioned and empowered the late Colo- 
nel Samuel Smith as their agent to make a deed in fee simple for 
the said land, to the said Henry Pattillo, which deed was proved and 
admitted to record by the court of Granville county, at their May 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES, 221 

term, 1784,'on the express condition of my continuing till death or 
disability, the minister of said congregation," This condition was 
fulfilled, and a small patrimony was thus secured to the family of a 
laborious and successful minister of the gospel, who had neither 
disposition nor opportunity to accumulate wealth. 

Mr. Pattillo pursued and finished his classical and theological 
course with Mr. Davies in Hanover. Mr. Davies contemplated his 
spending some time in college. From the short journal of Mr. 
Pattillo, we learn the cause why he never followed out the design of 
his much loved instructor. At the time he drew up his short ac- 
count of his experience, August 10th, 1754, while Mr. Davies was 
absent on a voyage to England, he says — " I have thus been sup- 
ported by the mere bounty of others, which, to the praise of God 
be it spoken, has always been sufficient, though on the receipt of one 
supply, my faith has been frequently baffled to see where the next 
should come from. My discouragements are chiefly these. The 
difficulties of learning ; the loss of at least one-third of my time, 
and Mr. Davies's voyage to Europe, which has left me without a 
teacher this year past ; together with the weakness of my faith in 
God's providence respecting my support." Mr. John Blair was then 
on a visit to Mr. Davies's congregation, as a temporary supply in 
his absence. Of him Mr. Pattillo makes this short remark — " what 
a burning light he is !" In the few leaves of the journal left, which 
gives here and there a notice up to June 18th, 1757, which day 
the remarkable thunder shower took place, as mentioned above ; he 
dwells mostly on his own Christian experience. He makes no par- 
ticular mention of Mr. Davies's presence, or family, or preaching ; 
mentions Mr. Todd's meeting, but says nothing of him — neither 
names the persons with whom he was pursuing his studies in com- 
pany. 

On Monday, May 30th, 1755, he makes the following entry : 
" Agreeable to a plan agreed on among us who are studying with 
a view to the ministry, this day is set apart for fasting and prayer. 
Though my wants be so numerous that I could not name them in a 
whole day — the principal blessings I am this day in pursuit of are — 
1st, Quickening and vivacity in religion ; 2d, That I may pursue 
my studies assiduously, and that the great end of them may be the 
glory of God, and the salvation of men; 3d, That religion may 
revive where it is professed, and spread where not yet known." 

Some time in the summer of 1755, he entered the married state. 
He had written to Mr. Davies on the subject, and received an an- 
swer stating objections to the prudence of the step at that time. 



222 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The leaves of the journal on which the date of these events, and 
the principal objections of Davies were recorded, are lost. The 
opinion of his instructor overcame him, and he determined to aban- 
don the project, till he came to consider the situation of the young 
lady he had addressed, and whose affection he had won ; upon re- 
flection he determined to proceed in the business, and consummate 
the marriage ; believing it would not involve him in pecuniary dif- 
ficulty ; that it would not hinder his further study ; and lastly, 
" That Mr. Davies was so well known in the learned world that a 
person finished by his hand, would not come under contempt any 
more than many shining lights now in the Church, who were edu- 
cated before the college was erected." 

That he pursued his studies with success after he was ordained 
to the full w^ork of the gospel ministry and held a higli rank as a 
classical teacher, is inferred from the fact that the college of Hamp- 
den Sydney, Prince Edw^ard county, Virginia, in the year 1787, 
April 25th, while under the presidency of John B. Smith, conferred 
upon him the Degree of Master of Arts. The parchment is still 
preserved, and bears, in their own handwriting, the signatures of 
the President, — and John Nash, Arch'd McRoberts, James Allen, 
F. Watkins, Thomas Scott, Richard Foster, Richard Sankey, and 
Charles Allen, Curators. 

In the year 1787, Mr. Pattillo issued from the press in Wilming- 
ton, a volume containing three sermons, viz., on Divisions among 
Christians, on the Necessity of Regeneration, and the Scripture 
Doctrine of Election. To these, were added an Address to the 
Deists, and an extract of a letter from Mr. Whitefield to Mr. 
Wesley. He appears to have been fond of the use of his pen, as 
far as his few hours of leisure would permit. A few manuscripts 
remain': some Essays on Baptism; on Universalism ; a Cate- 
chism of Doctrine for Youth ; and a Catechism or Compcnd in 
Question and Answer, for the use of Adults. He also prepared a 
Geography for Youth, by way of Question and Answ^er, which 
must have been superior to any printed volume then in use. He 
also published a sermon on the death of General Washington. 
For about twelve years he taught a classical school in Granville ; 
part of the time on the place now occupied by M. J. Hunt, and 
part of the time at Williamsburgh. 

He continued to serve the congregation of Nutbush and Grassy 
Creek, till his death in 1801, having nearly completed his seventy- 
fifth year. He finished his course at a distance from home, in 
Dinwiddie county, Virginia, whither he had gone as a minister of 



CHURCHES IN ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 223 

the gospel. The Rev. Drury Lacy, in the sermon he preached en 
the occasion of his death, says — " I was assured by the gentleman, 
at whose house he finished his course, that he exhibited the 
greatest example of resignation and tranquillity of mind he had 
ever seen." 

The text chosen by Mr. Lacy was Romans xiv., 7 and 8 ; " For 
none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For 
whether toe live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, we 
die unto the Lord ; whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the 
LoirVs." Li giving the character of Mr. Pattillo, he says — " Pos- 
sessed of an originality of genius, and endowed by nature with 
powers of mind superior to the common lot of men, he cheerfully 
determined to consecrate them all to the service of the Saviour in 
the gospel ministry. That the Scriptures were his delight, and 
that he meditated on them day and night, so as to become well- 
versed in their doctrines and precepts, all who had the pleasure of 
his acquaintance, all who ever heard him preach, and all who have 
read his printed works, cannot be ignorant. That he devoted his 
time and talents to the service of God, his works of faith and 
labors of love among you, and, as far as he had an opportunity, of 
travelling to preach, abundantly testify. His zeal was so far from 
being diminished by age, that it evidently appeared to increase ; as 
if the near prospect of obtaining the crown animated him to greater 
exertions to be found worthy of it. My hearers ! can you have 
forgotten the ardor and pertinacity of his prayers, the weight of 
his arguments, the fervor of his exhortations, and the persuasive- 
ness of his counsels ? Did he not visit your bedside when you 
were sick, and there communicate heavenly instructions to revive 
your fainting spirits, and pour forth the fervent prayer to God that 
your affliction might be sanctified ? And in the social intercourse 
of friendship, you must remember how readily he improved every 
occurrence to communicate useful and religious knowledge. 
That his life was a pattern of resignation and thankfulness, 
has been remarked even by those who had but a slight acquaint- 
ance with him. Always cheerful, he seemed more disposed to 
bless the hand of providence for the favors he enjoyed, than to 
think hardly of any afflictive dispensation he suffered. When was 
the tenor of his soul so lost and discomposed as to unfit him for 
the discharge of the sacred duties of his office ?" 

The following extract from a letter respecting his last hours, 
shows the spirit of the man : — " He had lain for several hours 
with his eyes closed, speechless, and apparently insensible. One 



224 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of liis friends requested to ask a question. Although it would 
have seemed hopeless to expect any remaining intelligence, he had 
a curiosity and desire to make a last effort to arouse him. Placing 
his mouth near his ear, he asked, in a loud tone of voice — ' Where 
is your hope now .<" The dying man opened his eyes, and raising 
both hands, extended his arms upwards, as if pointing toward that 
heaven which had been the object of his fervent prayers, and to 
which he had constantly looked forward as the place of his ever- 
lasting rest." In a short time he entered into that rest. 

Rev. John Matthews, a member of the Hawfields church, who, 
like Pa,ttillo,commenced preparations for the ministry later in life 
than is usual, became the Pastor of Nutbush and Grassy Creek, 
having received a call April, 1803. His preparatory studies had 
all been under the direction of Dr. Caldwell, of Guilford, and his 
license given him by the Presbytery of Orange, at Barbacue, in 
the month of -March, 1801, in company with Duncan Brown, 
Hugh Shaw, Murdoch Murphy, Murdoch McMillan, Malcolm 
McNair, and E. B. Currie, all like himself pupils of Dr. Cald- 
well. The two first are still living in Tennessee. 

Mr. Matthews left these congregations in 1806, and removed to 
Berkeley county, Virginia. From thence to Jefferson county ; 
and is now Professor in the Theological Seminary at New Albany. 

Leonard Prather supplied them for a short time : but was soon 
deposed for intemperance. 

His successor was the Rev. E. B. Currie, who left Bethesda 
and Greers in 1809. He was also a pupil of Dr. Caldwell. He 
served them till about the ye^- 1819, when he removed to Haw- 
fields, and seryed that congregation and Crossroads till about the 
year 1843, when his infirmities induced ^lim to give up his charge. 

In 1822, Rev. S. M. Graham entered upon the duties of pastor to 
these congregations, and served them a number of years ; he now 
holds the chair of a Professor in the Union Theological Seminary. 

THE CONGREGATIONS OF HAWFIELDS, ENO, AND LITTLE RIVER. 

Settlements of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians began along the 
Eno and the Haw rivers, about the time that the colonies settled 
in that part of Lunenburg 'county, Virginia, now called Charlotte, 
on Cub Creek and the adjacent streams, which was about the 
years 1738 and 1739. It is supposed that these settlements, and 
those in Duplin and New Hanover, were the places visited by 
Robinson, who is supposed to be the first Presbyterian missionary 



CHURCHES OF ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 225 

sent from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, that visited North Caro- 
lina. No other notice remains of his visit, but the fact that he 
did visit these parts, and underwent great hardships, from which 
his constitution scarcely recovered. In all probability the " sup- 
plications " for ministerial visits that were laid before the Synod 
of Philadelphia, then the only Synod of Presbyterian clergy in 
the United States, came, in part, from the bounds of Orange 
county. North Carolina. The troubles and distractions that at- 
tended the divisions of the Synod soon after, prevented, or in- 
terrupted for a time, missionary operations to any extent, and then 
increased their number and their energy. 

Mr. John Thomson, who was appointed to correspond with the 
supplicants, a member of Donegal Presbytery, visited them in 
person in 1751. On his journey to Carolina, the arrangement 
was made with Mr. Pattillo and another young man, to return 
with him to Pennsylvania, and commence their studies in prepara- 
tion for the ministry. Mr. Thomson made a long stay, and in 
the meantime the young man relinquishing his design of study, 
and Mr Davies giving Mr. Pattillo an invitation to his house, the 
design of going to Pennsylvania was abandoned. There remain 
no memoranda either of the correspondence of Mr. Thomson with 
those desirous of ministerial labor, or of his visit to them. 
Neither is there any document that may give any particular ac- 
count of the visits that were made, by the various missionaries 
sent out by the two Synods of New York and Philadelphia, till 
the years 1755 and 1756, when Hugh M'Aden, a licentiate of 
New Brunswick Presbytery, made a tour of a year, a concise 
journal of whose journey ings and preaching is still preserved, and 
makes part of another chapter. He visited the settlements on the 
Eno, and preached for them the second Sabbath of August, 1755, 
lodging at the house of Mr. John Anderson, whose grandchildren, 
some of them, still live on the Eno. After a visit to Tar River, 
he returned to Mr. Anderson's, and on the fourth Sabbath of Au- 
gust preached at the Hawfields. Of the Eno settlement he says, 
they were "a set of pretty regular Presbyterians," who appeared 
at that time in a cold state, of religious feeling. , Of the Hawfields 
settlement, he says, " the congregation was chiefly made up of 
Presbyterians, who seemed highly pleased, and very desirous to 
hear the word." The next year they applied to Hanover Pres- 
bytery for supplies. 

These congregations on the Eno and the Haw appear to have 
been not altogether regular in their ecclesiastical matters, for, 
15 



226 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

according to the statement of an old elder of the Eno church, 
Mr. James Clark, who died a few years since, Mr. Spencer and 
McWharter, in their mission to Carolina to organize and regulate 
the congregations, attended to the organization of Eno. How- 
ever, this might refer only to their boundaries and separate action. 
The first elders were Thomas Clark, John Tinnier, and Carus 
Tinnier. The names of the first elders in Hawfields have not 
been preserved. Mr. Pattillo was the first settled minister of 
these two congregations, which have been the mothers of those 
now surrounding them. Little River, New Hope, Fairfield, and 
Cross Roads. He came in 1765, and left them in 1774. 

The second pastor, the Rev. John Debow, from the Presbytery 
of New Brunswick, began to preach in these two congregations, 
as a licentiate, about the year 1775, and was ordained about the 
year 1776. His remains were interred in the grave-yard that sur- 
rounds the Hawfields meeting-house. Under his ministry there 
was a revival of religion, and a goodly number were added to the 
churches. His death took place in the month of September, 
1783. 

The next regularministerthatremained with these congregations 
for a time, was Jacob Lake, the brother-in-law of Mr. Debow. 
During his ministry the congregation of Cross Roads was organ- 
ized, being made up of parts of Hawfields, Eno, and Stony 
Creek. He left the congregation about the year 1790. 

His successor was the Rev. William Hodges, who is said to 
have been a native of Hawfields. Becoming hopefully religious 
under the ministry of Mr. Debow, he commenced preparations 
for the ministry. After the death of his spiritual father, he be- 
came discouraged, turned his attention to other things, and mar- 
ried and settled in the congregation of Hawfields. During the 
excitement which prevailed under the preaching of James 
M'Gready, on Stony Creek, and along the Haw River, in 1789, 
1790, and 1791, Mr. Hodges felt his desire to preach the gospel 
revive and spring up with greater force than ever. Being licensed 
by the Presbytery of Orange, he went heart and hand with 
M'Gready in the work ; difiering, however, so much in his manner 
of preaching, that the people styled him the " Son of Consola- 
tion," and M'Gready, Boanerges. In 1792 he was ordained pastor 
of Hawfields and Cross Roads, by Orange Presbytery. During 
his ministry many were gathered to the church. About the year 
'l800 he removed to Tennessee, and was there an active agent in 
the " Great Revival " that spread over the South and West. 



CHURCHES OF ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 227 

His successor was William Paisley, under whose ministry the 
great revival of 1802 commenced, at the Cross Roads, an account 
of which is given under the head of James M'Gready, and the 
Great Revival. The first camp-meeting in the South was held 
at Hawfields, in October, 1802, and grew out of the necessity of 
the case. The community was greatly excited on the subject of 
religion, and multitudes, some from a great distance, assembled at 
Hawfields for the fall communion services. The neighborhood 
could not accommodate the numbers assembled, and their anxiety 
to hear the gospel was too great to permit them to return to their 
homes ; they therefore remained on the ground, camping with 
their wagons for three or four days, getting their necessary supplies 
as they could. So great was the interest excited, and so great the 
enjoyment, and the profit supposed to be derived from the meet- 
ing, that the example was followed extensively throughout the 
whole upper country of North Carolina. The custom of spending 
three or four days encamped at the place of worship, during com- 
munion occasions, extensively prevails to this day. Near most of 
the churches, that follow this habit, cabins are built for the ac- 
commodation of the worshippers, and for the season the whole 
neighborhood give themselves up to the exercises of the meeting. 
In Hawfields, the interest and attendance are yet unabated. 

After serving the congregations about twenty years, Mr. Paisley 
removed to Greensborough ; and is still able to preach occasion- 
ally, though, through infirmities of age, he has declined being pastor 
of a congregation. 

His successor, the Rev. Ezekiel B. Currie, passed his early 
life in several different congregations in Orange and Guilford 
counties, but chiefly on the Haw River. His father lived for a 
time in Alamance congregation, in Gidlford ; from thence removed 
to Sandy River, in the upper part of Orange, near Randolph. 
During the war of the Revolution, on account of the hostility of 
the tories in that neighborhood, he was compelled to leave his 
home, and hide himself. Making a visit to his family he was dis- 
covered and seized by the tories, wounded, and left for dead, and 
his property carried away. The scars of these wounds, received 
in this attack, he carried upon his head to his grave. After being 
broken up on Sandy River, he removed to Haw River congrega- 
tion, whose place of worship was about three miles north of Gum 
Grove, the old burying-ground being still visible. 

A remark made by an^old gentleman who had sat silently by the 
fire-side, while young Currie and others were making merry one 



228 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

evening, was blest to awaken him to the danger he was in as a 
sinner. When the company were about to break up, the old gen- 
tleman turned to him and said — " Young man, when will you turn 
to serious things ?" This troubled his mind greatly. His con- 
version he attributes, under God, to the ministry of Mr. M'Gready, 
for whom he entertained the highest regard through his whole life. 
His education he obtained from two sources, Dr. Caldwell of 
Guilford, and Mr. M'Gready. The latter taught school at his 
residence, between three and four miles below High Rock, about 
mid-way between his two places of preaching. Haw River and 
Stony Creek. The principal part of his instruction, however, 
was from Dr. Caldwell. 

In the month of March, 1801, at Barbacue church, Cumber- 
land county, Messrs. Ezekiel B. Currie, John Matthews, Duncan 
Brown, Murdoch, McMillan, Malcolm McNair, Hugh Shaw, and 
Murdock Murphy, were licensed to preach the gospel by Orange 
Presbytery. These had all received their education principally 
under Dr. Caldwell, and were influenced more or less by 
M'Gready, to seek the ministry. All were actors in the great 
revival of 1802, and onwards. Four of them are still living; two 
of whom are honored with the title of D.D., Brown and Matthews. 
Two of them were particularly useful in building up the churches 
that now constitute Fayetteville Presbytery, McMillan and 
McNair. 

Soon after his licensure, Mr. Currie went to Bethany church, in 
Caswell ; to which Greers was soon united. After spending about 
seven years in these congregations, he was removed to Nutbush 
and Grassy Creek, in Granville ; and from thence, in the year 
1819, to Hawfields and Cross Roads. About the year 1843 he 
withdrew from the pastoral charge of these congregations, on ac- 
count of the infirmities of age, but still lives to preach occasion- 
ally, and to witness the successful labors of his successor in these 
two congregations, constituting one of the largest and most inte- 
resting charges in North Carolina, which has been blessed with 
revivals from its origin. 

After Cross Roads was united with Hawfields in the service of 
a pastor, Eno, which had at first been its partner, was united with 
Little River, which became a distinct congregation about this time, 
under the charge of Rev. James H. Bowman, in the year 1794, 
In the great revival in 1802, and onwards, he gathered a goodly 
number into his two churches. His ministry closed in 1815. 
His successor was Samuel Paisley, half-brother of Wm. Pais- 



CHURCHES OF ORANGE AND GRANVILLE COUNTIES. 229 

ley, and son of an Indian captive, w^ho commenced his labors here 
in 1816. In 1821 the congregations w^ere blessed with a revival 
of religion that brought numbers into the church. After some 
years of service, Mr. Paisley left them, and is now ministering in 
Moore county, a member of Fayetteville Presbytery. 

The Rev. Messrs. Professor Philips, of the University, Elijah 
Graves, afterwards a missionary, Daniel G. Dock, Thomas Lynch, 
and finally, John Paisley, each served the congregation of Eno for 
a short time. The last finished his earthly course in the congre- 
gation. Of him a member of the. congregation thus writes : " His 
labors, no doubt, were blessed, during his short stay with us. The 
good seed he has sown seems to be springing up ; and even some 
sheaves ready to be gathered in ; for in a few days we expect a 
goodly number to come forward in that old church, and declare 
themselves to be on the Lord's side." After expressing a desire 
that his name may be remembered, he goes on to say, *' he was 
not only a preacher in the pulpit, but his daily walk and private 
conversation savored of the spirit of his Master. His Bible classes 
were large, and his examinations extremely interesting. But O, 
sir, we can't tell why it was that he so soon finished his work. 
His Master called, and he, with his lamp trimmed and burning, was 
ready to go. His disease, perhaps a complicated one, baffled the 
skill of some three or four eminent physicians. The anxiety mani- 
fested by his congregations, and all^who knew him, was great in- 
deed. But it was the Lord's doing, and we must submissively 
say, ' Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.' " The 
aged minister goes down like a shock of corn fully ripe ; the 
youthful servant leaves us in amazement, and wonder, and tears. 

The Eno and Hawfields congregations, extending from Hillsbo- 
rough to the Haw River, were the scene of many of the doings of 
the Regulators. Not a few of the people were engaged in the 
proceedings of these slandered, yet brave men. Understanding 
their rights of person and property, they could not restrain their 
indignation under the complicated and long-continued impositions 
of those who, acting under the protection of the crown, exacted 
unheard of taxes from honest, unsuspecting men ; selling the same 
piece of land to different individuals, and receiving the pay from all, 
without redress ; exacting pay over and over again from the same 
individuals for the same tract, under various pretexts ; and setting 
at defiance all law and order. If these people had not resisted, 
they would have been unworthy of their ancestors and the religion 
they professed. That many base and unprincipled men took ad- 



230 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

vantage of the disturbance and distress, to commit heinous offences 
against the peace of society, and in defiance of all law, is a thing 
to be lamented, but not to be charged too severely upon men who 
were willing to live peaceably, and would have been loyal had not 
" oppression driven them mad." 

Tryon's march the day before the Regulation battle, was through 
these congregations ; and the heavy oath of allegiance was exacted 
as the price of their property and lives, after the governor's victory. 
Upon the conscientious part of the community, that oath sat with a 
galling weight ; although many felt themselves relieved by the fact 
that the king could neither enforce his laws nor defend his subjects ; 
yet some suffered under its influence during the whole war — not 
daring to take up arms for their country, and not disposed to enlist 
among her enemies. Such people often suffered the ill-deserved 
odium of being tories, and felt the ill-effects of a bad name. 
Few real tories were found in the Presbyterian population of 
Orange. The most vehement enemies that Cornwallis met, had 
been under the instruction of Presbyterian ministers. The first 
settled minister of Hawfields and Hico sat in the first Provincial 
Congress of Carolina, and on alarms, met with his people, to 
encourage them by precept and example, to defend their country 
and their religion. Cornwallis found Hillsborough and its neigh- 
borhood little less inviting than Charlotte, which he named " the 
Hornets' Nest ;" and very few grown men from Hillsborough to 
the Haw, were unacquainted with service in the camp, and 
marches, and plunderings, while his lordship remained in Orange. 
And in the future history of Carolina, the war of the Regidation 
will stand prominent as the struggle of liberty and justice against 
oppression, not less glorious than Lexington and Bunker Hill, for 
the principles displayed, though less honored for the immediate 
effects. 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 23l 



CHAPTER XVII. 

aEV. DAVID CALDWELL, D.D., AND THE CHURCHES IN GUILFORD 
COUNTY. 

The congregations of Buffalo and Alamance, the two eldest and 
largest of the Presbyterian denomination, arid probably of any 
other, in the county of Guilford, have had the singular privilege of 
enjoying the regular ministrations of the gospel, with little inter- 
mission, for more than eighty years in conjunction with each 
other, dividing the Sabbaths — and from two men. The time of 
the ministerial relation of the Rev. Messrs. David Caldwell and 
Eli W. Caruthers witli these congregations, extends from about 
the time of the organization of Alamance, in the year 1764, to the 
present day ; an incontestible evidence of their stability, and the 
irreproachable lives of their pastors. 

" A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Cald- 
well, D.D.," by Mr. Caruthers, his successor in the ministry, 
replete with various information, gives all of importance that can 
be collected, concerning the early life of that venerable man, wiio 
finished his course in the one hundredth year of his age, and the 
sixty-first of his ministry. 

David Caldwell, born March 22d, 1725, in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, was the son of a respectable farmer, in good worldly 
circumstances, and of unblemished Christian character. After 
receiving the rudiments of an English education, he was bound 
apprentice to a house carpenter, and served till the legal period, 
the age of twenty-one. After working at his trade, as a journey- 
man, for about four years, at the age of twenty-five he was 
admitted to the communion of the church, on a profession of his 
faith. As soon as the hope in Christ was formed in his heart, he 
began most earnestly to desire an education for the purpose of 
becoming a minister of the gospel. His thirst for information 
became a passion, and his desire to be useful in the ministry 
increased to intense earnestness, and he resolved to sacrifice time, 
and labor, and his portion that might fall to him from his fatlicr's 
estate, to satisfy these strong desires of his heart. With unwea- 
ried perseverance, he pursued the object of his desire, and received 



232 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

his degree of Bachelor of Arts, from Princeton College, in the 
year 1761, the year that President Davies died. He was then 
thirty -six years of age. 

Some part of his preparatory course was under the tuition of 
Rev. RolDert Smith, of Pequa, the father of John B, Smith, so fa- 
vorably known in Virginia as President of Hampden Sydney Col- 
lege, and of Samuel Stanhope Smith, known both at Hampden 
Sydney and Princeton. After receiving his degree he resorted to 
school-teaching, as he had often done before, and passed a year in 
that employ at Cape May. Returning to Princeton, he was en- 
gaged in the duties of a tutor in College, and in the study of theo- 
logy in preparation for licensure. He was taken under the care of 
New Brunswick Presbytery at its meeting in Princeton, Sept. 
28th, 1762, having given the brethren " good satisfaction as to his 
motives in wishing to enter the ministry." After repeated trial of 
his proficiency and aptness to teach, he was licensed by that Pres- 
bytery on the 8th of June, 1763. 

He left no account of his Christian experience,, or of the trials 
and labors undergone in the course of study, preparatory to his 
entrance upon the work of the ministry. Some anecdotes which 
have been treasured up as having fallen from his lips, illustrate his 
spirit. In order to obtain some necessary funds, he sold his undi- 
vided patrimony to his brothers ; and in order to encourage them 
to make greater efforts to raise the money, and prevent all objec- 
tion, he rated his share much below its real value. The agreement 
was verbal, but at the settlement of the estate he confirmed it in 
writing, making a journey from Carolina expressly for that pur- 
pose. While in college he pursued his studies in a manner that 
must have been ruinous to most men, often passing the night in 
the summer season, without either undressing or lying down, 
sleeping with his head upon his crossed arms, under the open win- 
dow ; an evidence of a strong constitution and untiring persever- 
ance, rather than of genius or prudence. 

After supplying various vacancies in the bounds of the Presby- 
tery, from the time of his licensure till the following summer, Mr. 
Caldwell visited North Carolina. The records of the Synod of 
New York and New Jersey have the following minute at their 
meeting in Ehzabethtown, May 23d, 1764 : " Several supplica- 
tions from North Carolina were presented, earnestly praying for 
supplies, which were read and urged with several verbal relations 
representing the state of the country." After speaking of the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Charles Jef. Smith and Mr. Amos Tlioinpson as 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 233 

missionaries, the minute proceeds — " Mr. David Caldwell, a can- 
didate, of New Brunswick, is appointed to go as soon as possible, 
but not to defer it longer than next fall, and supply under the 
direction of the Hanover Presbytery." This Presbytery at that 
time was the only one south of the Potomac in connection with 
the Synod, and its boundaries on the south were indefinite. 
There was an independent Presbytery in South Carolina. 

While Mr. Caldwell was in the course of his preparatory studies 
for college, a company of his friends emigrated to North Carolina, 
and took their residence on Buffalo Creek and Reedy Fork ; and 
before their departure from Pennsylvania, made overtures to him, 
that, upon his being licensed, he should visit them in their new 
abode for the purpose of becoming their preacher. In about a 
year after he commenced preaching, he was sent as a missionary 
by the Synod to the south, and passed through the congregations 
and settlements in the upper part of Carolina, and, among others, 
the settlements of his old friends. The emigration had been con- 
tinued, and many pious people having come to the wilderness, the 
congregation of Buffalo, whose place of worship is about three 
miles from Greensborough, had been organized according to the 
rules of the Church. Settlements had been formed on the Ala- 
mance, and in 1764, the year of his visit, the Rev. Henry Pattillo, 
who was afterwards die minister of Hawfields and Little River, 
organized a church called Alamance, whose preaching-place is 
about seven miles from Greensborough, and about the same dis- 
tance from Buffalo. 

These two congregations united in desiring Mr. Caldwell for 
their minister ; though of different sentiments about the late 
divisions in the Presbyterian church, both were orthodox in their 
creed, and firmly attached to the Presbyterian forms ; but the 
Buffalo church was composed of members that were of the Old 
Side, as they were termed, and the Alamance of those who sided 
with New Light or New Side, or as they sometimes distmguished 
themselves, /oZZot^ec? Whitejield. This division into Old Side and 
Neiu Side is by no means to be considered as similar to the divi- 
sions made some years since in the Presbyterian church under the 
names of Old and New School. The latter division was, in a 
great measure, brought about by different sentiments on important 
theological subjects ; the former principally by a difference about 
the nature of revivals and proper measures to be used, and also 
the proper qualifications for the ministerial office. The full and 



234 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

satisfactory history may be foimcl in Hodge's Constitutional His- 
tory of the Presbyterian church. 

Mr. Caldwell's appointment as a missionary was renewed next 
year by the Synod. Philadelphia, May 20th, 1765. " In conse- 
quence of sundry applications from North Carolina for supplies, 
the Synod appoint Messrs. Nathan Ken-, George Duffield, William 
Ramsay, David Caldwell, James Latta, and Robert McMordie, to 
go there as soon as they can conveniently, and each of them to 
tarry half a year in those vacant congregations, as prudence may 
direct." The Presbytery of New Brunswick held a meeting in 
Philadelphia, and took the necessary steps preparatory to the or- 
dination of Mr. Caldwell ; and received a call from the churches 
of Buffalo and Alamance for his ministerial labors. July 5th, 1765, 
at Trenton, New Jersey, he was ordained to the full work of the 
gospel ministry, and dismissed to join the Presbytery of Hanover ; 
and as the congregations making the call were under the care of 
that Presbytery, he Avas directed to make known to it his deter- 
mination respecting the acceptance. He proceeded forthwith to 
Carolina, and entered upon his labors as minister of the two con- 
gregations ; was a corresponding member of Hanover Presbytery 
at its meeting at the Red House, Caswell county, June 4th, 1766. 
He neither joined the Presbytery at that time, nor accepted the call 
of the two churches ; and it was not till the 1 1th of October, 1767, 
he was received as a member, and not till the 3d of March, 1768, 
that the installation services were performed, in compliance with a 
request made the preceding fall. The Rev. Hugh McAden of the 
Red House, preached the installation service, and performed the 
services prescribed by the form of government. In the latter part 
of the year 1766 he was married to Rachel, the third daughter of 
Rev. Alexander Craighead, the minister at Sugar Creek, and became 
a housekeeper in that part of his congregation then within the 
bounds of Rowan county, previous to the formation of Guilford 
from Rowan and Orange, the place of his residence till his death, 
in 1824. 

As the congregations had promised him but two hundred dollars 
salary, he felt the necessity, from the first, of making provision for 
his family, and accordingly purchased a small farm, on which 
through life he depended in part for the comforts of his household. 
He commenced, too, at his house a classical school, which, with 
some few short interruptions, he continued till the infirmities of age 
disqualified him for the duties of teacher. This was the second 
classical school of permanence, and perhaps the first in usefulness, 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 235 

in the upper part of Carolina ; that in Sugar Creek being probably 
the first ; and that of Mr. Pattillo, in Granville, being the third. 
Delighting in the employment of teacher, having a peculiar tact 
for the management of boys, and being thorough in his course of 
instruction, his school flourished, and was the means, during the 
long period of its continuance, of bringing more men into the learn- 
ed professions than any other taught by a single individual or by a 
succession of teac!iers during the same period of time. Five of 
his scholars became Governors of States ; a number vsrere promoted 
to the bench, of whom were Murphy and McCoy ; a larger num- 
ber, supposed about fifty, became ministers of the gospel, of whom 
were Dr. McCorkle, of Thyatria, Dr. Matthews, of New Albany, 
Indiana, Dr. Brown, of Tennessee, and many others that were 
shining lights ; a large number were physicians and lawyers. Of 
those whose names have been mentioned as eminent, most, if not 
all, received their entire classical education from him, and the 
ministers of the gospel, in addition to that, their theological edu- 
cation ; so that, for a time, his school was academy, college, and 
theological seminary. The number of students attending was 
generally from fifty to sixty ; and, assembled from different parts 
of the State, put his powers of government to the test. These 
must have been extraordinary ; as it is not recollected by any of 
his family, or any of his pupils living, that any student was ever 
expelled, or sent away for improper conduct. His students loved, 
reverenced, and obeyed him. And such was the impression made 
upon the minds of those under his discipline, that an instance was 
known of a student, with whom the Dr. was compelled to be very 
severe, in after life riding more than two hundred miles, for the 
sole purpose of revisiting the scenes of his school days, and once 
more taking the Dr. by the hand. 

There were frequent times of revival in his school. An aged 
minister told Mr. Caruthers that himself and nine of his schoolmates 
became pious while under his tuition, and all entered the ministry. 
The influence of Mrs. Caldwell over the students was great, and 
all in favor of religion ; on that subject she was their confidant 
and adviser. Intelligent, prudent, kind, and conciliating, she won 
their hearts and directed their judgments, and the current saying 
through the country was, " Dr. Caldwell makes the scholars, and 
Mrs. Caldwell makes the ministers." Multitudes will rise and 
call her blessed. The Rev. E, B. Curric, still living, speaks of 
her as a wonderful woman to counsel and encourage, having felt 
in his own case her extraordinary power, while a member of the 



236 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

school. A precious revival took place under the ministrations of 
Rev. James M'Gready, who visited the school, and was the happy- 
means of leading many to Christ. 

In addition to the numerous labors belonging to his multiplied 
callings, the condition of his people turned his attention to the 
practice of medicine. There being no physician in the neighbor- 
hood, or within many miles, the sick turned their attention to 
their minister, in the double capacity of physician for the soul and 
for the body. He procured some books and read carefully ; a 
physician by the name of Woodsides came and resided a year 
in his family, and practised in the congregations ; at his death Mr. 
Caldwell came in possession of his books ; Dr. Rush, who was 
a college mate, was his correspondent through life ; with these ad- 
vantages, his patience and perseverance triumphed, and in all the 
common diseases of the country he became celebrated, and also 
in some of much greater difficulty. He continued the practice of 
medicine till his fourth son was prepared to take his place ; and 
then, except in very special cases, he declined further service. 

The Rev. E. B. Currie, one of his pupils, says, " Dr. Caldwell's 
life was rather a life of labor than of study ; and when we con- 
sider that he had a large school, which he attended five days in 
the week ; two large congregations which he catechised at least 
twice in the year four communions, which always lasted four 
days each, besides his visiting the sick, frequently preaching in 
vacant congregations, etc., etc., we can see there was not much 
time left for study ; but he was a close student when opportunity 
offered." During the first sixteen or eighteen years of his minis- 
try he studied closely. Retiring to rest at ten, and rising at four, 
he redeemed time for regular and protracted study. His library 
being destroyed during the war, and his public duties increasing, 
as his strength decayed, he was of necessity, rather than inclina- 
tion, less studious in the latter part of his life. That he might 
preserve his health, he was strictly temperate in eating and drink- 
ing, and always kept some work of manual labor of importance 
ready, to exercise himself every day, when not called from home. 

At a meeting of Hanover Presbytery, held at Buffalo meeting- 
house, March, 1770, a petition was prepared for Synod, asking for a 
Presbytery for Carolina and the South. This petition was grant- 
ed in May, and the Rev. Messrs. Hugh McAdcn, Henry Pattillo, 
James Criswell, David Caldwell, Joscpii Alexander, Hezekiah 
Balch, and Hezekiah James Balch, were constituted a Presbytery 
by the name of Orange, to meet at the Hawficlds ; and the Rev, 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTS. 237 

Henry Pattillo, the pastor, to open the Presbytery with a sermon. 
This Presbytery has flourished greatly, its congregations are nu- 
merous, and at the present time there are three Presbyteries in the 
State of North Carolina, in the bounds occupied by this, besides 
those in South Carolina which, for a time, were reckoned as be- 
longing to its bounds. 

Dr. Caldwell and Mr. Pattillo were near neighbors for a few 
years. Whether Mr. Pattillo taught school during the five or six 
years he preached at the Hawfields, is not distinctly known ; 
that he did after his removal, and for a long time, is well known ; 
and, also, that his circumstances required him to have a greater 
income than his salary. The probability is that he pursued a 
course similar to that pursued by Dr. Caldwell. The famous 
Regulation battle, May 16th, 1771, took place in the region lying 
between their respective fields of labor. Both congregations were 
deeply and generally involved in the troubles that brought the 
contest, and partook fully of the spirit that prompted the re- 
sistance, and were sharers in the battle. Of the part that Mr. 
Pattillo took we have no account left, either in manuscript or tra- 
dition ; but from his after history, which is well known, we feel 
at no loss to conjecture. Dr. Caldwell sympathized with his 
congregations in their troubles, and in their resistance. That 
such men as Pattillo and Caldwell were the ministers of four large 
congregations, which embraced the space of country in which the 
principal locahties of the Regulation difficulties are found, entirely 
forbids the idea that the Regulators, as a body, were untaught and 
savage, or unprincipled men. The congregations of these men 
read their Bibles, heard no indifferent preaching on the Sabbath, 
and had committed the admirable formulary — the Shorter Cate- 
chism of the Westminster Assembly, which they were taught to 
believe, and to reduce to practice ; and if they read few other 
books, and seldom saw a newspaper, it is evident they understood 
the laws of Nature and the laws of God, and were ready to 
defend the privileges and rights which the king's officers trampled 
on then, but all the world concedes now. 

When the governor was marching against the encampment or 
gathering of the Regulators, with the evident intention of giving 
them battle, the cool calculating mind of Caldwell clearly saw that 
the probability of success was entirely with the governor. With 
him were officers that had seen service, and some field ordnance, 
and men that had been disciplined ; on the other side, the side of 
his friends, was courage, a sense of oppression, confidence in the 



238 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

right of their cause, and a belief that the governor would not 
attack them, and could not beat them if he did, — but no discipline, 
no field ordnance, no experienced military officer, not even a com- 
mander-in-chief, or a council of commanders, — every man obeyed 
whom he chose, and few chose to command. 

Dr. Caldwell visited both parties, for the purpose of proposing 
terms of accommodation, and was treated with respect by Tryon, 
On the morning of the battle he had an interview with both, still 
hoping to prevent the effusion of blood ; and warned by an old 
Scotchman, who understood the movements in the governor's line, 
he had left the ranks of the Regulators but a few moments before 
the firing began. There were many brave spirits from the con- 
gregations of Buifalo and Alamance, in that battle, whom no 
remonstrance could drive from the ranks and fortunes of their 
fellow Regulators. That the loss of that battle was not owing to 
want of courage, may be argued from the spirit displayed by the 
people of these congregations during the war which, in a few 
years, succeeded. 

The battle was lost to the Regulators, and in the murderous 
executions that followed, there was evidence that some, at least, 
of the Regulators, knew how to die like men and Christians. It 
is by no means improbable that the proportion of such in the 
camp, was equally as great as in the prison. That there were 
unprincipled men among the Regulators is well known, and was 
regretted then as much as criticised now ; but that the mass were 
men of principle and morals, true friends of their country, and 
lovers of liberty and law, there is less doubt now than there was 
then. If living in log cabins, with none of the luxuries of life, 
makes men vulgar, and lawless, and ignorant, then these men 
were all their enemies charged upon them, and merited neither 
success nor sympathy. But if devotion to principles and country 
makes men patriots, then the graves of the Regulators are the 
bed of the " Sons of Liberty." 

The executions being finished, and the oath of allegiance be- 
ing administered, the governor left the country in triumph, trust- 
ing to the binding force of an oath to preserve the peace and quiet 
he vainly supposed were established in the State. His trust in 
the binding influence of the oath was not misplaced, for these 
men had knowledge, and they had a conscience ; they dreaded 
the judgment of Him who has said that liars shall not have a 
portion in the heavenly inheritance. When the national Declara- 
tion of Independence was made, and the war of the Revolution 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 239 

was begun, then commenced, in the counties of Orange and Rowan, 
and those formed from them to break up the influence of 
the Regulators, the contest in many a brave man's mind between 
his love of liberty and his sense of obligation. By his oath he had 
saved his property, and perhaps his life ; by his condition his heart 
was with his countrymen. Must he serve his king or join with his 
countrymen ? Here the patriotism and cool calculation of Dr, 
Caldwell manifested itself. He argued with his people that alle- 
giance and protection were inseparable ; that as the king had not 
protected them from the rapacity which had driven them to rebel- 
lion on a former occasion, and was not able to assert his authority 
over the country now, their oath of allegiance, which had been 
exacted by force, was no longer binding. The independent State 
of North Carolina demanded their services, and the Congress of 
the United Colonies called for their aid ; to fight for the king would 
be to resist the established government. With some the argument 
was satisfactory ; they took up arms and served through the war ; 
others remained neutral ; and some few took arms for the king. 
The active tories were from another race of people in Orange. 

By the erection of the county of Guilford, in 1770, from the 
counties of Orange and Rowan, the congregation of Buffalo em- 
braced the centre, and had the county-seat within its bounds, a few 
miles from the residence of Dr. Caldwell. Guilford Court-house 
will be known as long as the history of the American Revolution 
is read ; and the sufferings and bravery of the four large congre- 
gations of Eno, Hawfields, Buffalo, and Alamance, can never be 
unknown while constancy and bravery are admired. These con- 
gregations were the scene of the plunderings of the hungry, needy, 
irritated army of Cornwalhs, after he had burned his baggage and 
lost the object of his pursuit, and found himself far from his stores, 
and in an enemy's country. The detail of plundered houses, in- 
sulted women, and murdered men, is too sickening to be dwelt 
upon. The catalogue of sufferings would fill a volume. And of 
these Dr. Caldwell had his full share. His house was plundered, 
his library and valuable papers destroyed, his property stolen, and 
he himself, watched for as a felon, passed nights in the woods in a 
secret place. He heard the roar of the battle of Guilford Court- 
house, and rejoiced in the consequent retreat of Cornwallis. But 
his joy was mingled with sorrow, for the victory was purchased 
with the blood of some of his people. But with the retreat of 
Cornwallis, the savage warfare between whigs and tories raged 
more violently for a time, and then came to an end ; and the dis- 



240 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tressed congregation of Dr. Caldwell had a respite from the horrors 
of war. 

It is a fact worthy of observation, that the track of the armies 
through North Carolina, previous to the battle of Guilford, em- 
braced the residence of the Scotch-Irish, and Scotch families, 
and put to the test the solemn asseveration in the two declarations 
that the cause of independence should be defended at the cost of 
^^ life, fortune, and most sacred honor ^ How far Dr. Caldwell 
was prepared to vindicate that pledge, can be seen in the extended 
account of his trials and sufferings, given by Mr. Caruthers. 
Slow to engage in warfare, timorous in provoking bloodshed, 
when the warfare and the battle came he stood his ground pre- 
pared to suffer, with his flock, the last extremity, and escaped 
captivity and death only by the special providence of God, Many 
and many a time did the British and tories lie in wait for him, 
and watch his house, and make sudden visits, and use false pre- 
tences to draw him from his hiding-place ; and once so well was 
the story feigned, that the prudence and foresight of his wife was 
overreached, and the hiding-place discovered. But God pre- 
served him in all emergencies, that God in whom he put his 
trust, and when the enemy were rejoicing that now, at last, he 
was discovered, they found his rude shelter deserted. 

After the peace, Dr. Caldwell's labors as teacher and preacher 
returned upon him with increased weight. Though by his own 
vote in the convention of 1776, which formed the constitution of 
the State of North Carolina, and drew up the Bill of Rights, he 
could not be a member of the legislature without laying down his 
ministerial office, his influence with political men was rather in- 
creased, and his unobtrusive opinions carried great weight with 
all that knew him. Pattillo was member of the first Provincial 
Congress, in 1775, and Caldwell of the State Convention, in 
1776. It is a matter of tradition that he drew up the 32d article : 
" That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the truth 
of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority cither of the Old 
or New Testament, or who shall hold religious principles incom- 
patible with freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of 
holding any office or place of trust or profit, in the civil depart- 
ment within the State." The preceding section disqualifies 
preachers of the gospel for the legislative functions, in virtue of 
their office. The convention of 1835, to amend the constitution, 
changed the word " Pro/c^iawf " in the 32d section to " CArw- 
tian.'''' 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 241 

Dr. Caldwell harmonized with the paper drawn up by Dr. 
Ephraim Brevard, in the fall of 1775, which probably he never 
saw ; both felt that anti-protcstant belief in religion was anti-republi- 
can, and therefore not to be encouraged ; both desired freedom of 
conscience for all Protestant denominations ; neither asked any 
reprisals on the denomination that had been the favorite of the 
crown, and the State religion of the colony ; neither desired any 
privileges for their own ; both desired that the Protestant religion 
should be the religion of the State, and that all denominations 
should be equally free from all disabilities and all patronage, 
fully believing that religion would support itself. 

While Dr. Caldwell sought public favor neither for himself nor 
his family, public favor sought them. When the present system 
of district courts went into operation, there were many applica- 
tions to the judge, for the office of clerk of Guilford county. On the 
day of opening the court, public expectation was high, from the 
number of candidates, and the uncommitted silence of the judge. 
Calling to Lawyer Cameron, then at the bar, now Judge Cameron 
of Raleigh, he requested him to act as clerk that day, and also to see 
if Dr. Caldwell was on the ground. To both of these requests, 
Mr. Cameron assented ; and finding the old gentleman in the midst 
of a circle of his friends, he introduced him to the judge's room. 
After a kind salutation from liis former pupil, the Dr. was surprised 
by the inquiry, " Have you a son qualified for the office of clerk of 
this county ?" After some reflection, he replied that he thought 
not, as none of them had been educated in prospect of such em- 
ployment. After some persuasion from the judge, he agreed " to 
go home and look them over, and give him word the next day." 
As not a word of this was public, expectation was higher than ever, 
as the applicants saw Mr. Cameron act as clerk, and not a single 
intimation from the judge who should fill the office. The next 
morning, the Dr. appeared at the judge's room, and entered with 
one of his sons ; saluting the judge, and turning to his son, " Here, 
judge, I have done the best I could." McCoy conferred on him 
the office ; and neither the judge nor the county have had cause 
to regret the appointment. 

During the last war, when a drauglit was called for from Guil- 
ford, and the attempt to meet the demand by volunteers was hkely 
to fail from the great reluctance of the citizens to go to the sea- 
shore of a neighboring State, whose fame for healthiness ranked 
no higher than Norfolk did at the time. Dr. Caldwell, by request, 
addressed the people in the court-house. Through infirmity, he 

16 



242 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

was carried to the magistrate's bench ; and having preached from 
the words, " He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and 
buy one ;" with all the infirmities of age upon him, he produced 
such a feeling among the young men, that the required hst was 
immediately filled out. This was patriotic in him, who, knowing 
the horrible evils attending armies, was opposed to the war in the 
commencement ; but in its advancement, remembered that he was 
a citizen of the United States, and that he must stand or fall with 
his country. 

Dr. Caldwell knew what aflEliction was from experience, for 
God saw it not best that his laborious servant should fulfil his 
ministry without sharp trials. And in choosing his afflictions, the 
Lord his Saviour proportioned their measure to his usefulness and 
influence, sending upon him as bitter a cup as could probably have 
come to him, without the ingredients of sinfulness or death. 
First, a daughter of superior endowments and liberal education, 
gave evidence that reason had lost its dominion ; and all the skill 
of his friend Rush could not bring it back to its throne. Then a 
son, and then another son, was added to the list by a mysterious 
providence. The venerable parents bowed in submission ; and in 
meekness and parental fondness watched over these erratic, yet 
not harmful children. They never recovered the riglit use of 
their reason. The son that preached for a time at Rocky River, 
was splendid in his ruins. 

When the University of North Carolina went into operation, he 
declined being considered a candidate for the Presidency. As a 
mark of their respect for his character and usefulness, the trustees 
conferred upon him the degree of D.D., at an early stage of their 
proceedings, when a spirit, not the most friendly to religion, was 
exercising a temporary influence in their councils. 

Dr. Caldwell continued his pastoral services till about the year 
1820 ; often, from weariness, on his return home, requiring assist- 
ance to dismount, and being carried into his house. On the 25th of 
August, 1824, he literally fell asleep, to wake no more till the 
Resurrection, his earthly pilgrimage having continued a period 
lacking only about seven months of a hundred years. He went to 
his grave like a shock of corn fully ripe. 

One of his sons was for many years pastor of Sugar Creek, the 
congregation of his gi-andfather Craighead ; and one of his grand- 
sons for a term of years ministered to the same congregation. 
" The seed of the righteous is blessed." 

Mrs. Caldwell survived her husband less than a year; and de- 



CHURCHES IN GUILFORD COUNTY. 243 

parted in the exercise of a good hope, through grace, of everlasting 
life. Her remains were laid beside those of Dr. Caldwell. A 
marble slab marks the place of sepulture of this venerable pair, 
near Buffalo church, the place in which tliey had so often wor- 
shipped God. 

There is an interesting tradition connected with the family of 
William Paisley, of Alamance. The well-attested facts and dates 
respecting Mrs. Paisley, mother of the Rev. Samuel Paisley, as 
received from the son, are — That she used to say that she had no 
recollection of ever seeing father, mother, brother, or sister ; that 
it was understood that the Indians killed her father, and that her 
mother died soon after him ; that Mr, Smith and Mr. Clack used 
to say, the Indians had the child ; that she never spoke of her 
captivity ; that she was reared and educated by the Rev. James 
Davenport, of Pennington ; that she went to school to a Mr. Ches- 
nut, an Englishman, about twenty miles from Philadelphia ; that 
William Paisley became acquainted with her there, and gaining 
her affections, he took'her to Philadelphia, where they were married 
by Rev. William Tennant, in the year 1763, in her 20th year; that 
they went to Princeton, and lived there till after the birth of their eldest 
son, and then removed to North Carolina. The tradition in Jersey 
about this lady is — That the Rev. James Davenport, whose wife's 
maiden name was Paine, was from New England, and settled first 
on Long Island, in New York, and from thence removed to Pen- 
nington, New Jersey, and was pastor of the church there for many 
years ; that he obtained the child from the Indians, gave it the 
name of Deliverance Paine, and reared it carefully as his own. 

Miss Sally Martin and Miss Phoebe Davis lived together a long 
time in Princeton, New Jersey, taught school, and had the first 
instruction of almost all the children of the place. Miss Davis is 
still living (1846). These ladies used to tell the children about 
little Dilly Paine, as is well recollected by some that went to scliool 
to them, and re-affirmed by Miss Davis, upon inquiry, in 1844 ; 
that the Indians brought her along and claimed her as theirs, and said 
she had no parents ; but would not tell where nor how they got her, 
nor give her up to the white people ; that getting out of provisions, 
and having nothing to buy with, and becoming wearied of carrying 
the child with them, they sold her to Mr. Davenport, for a loaf of 
bread and a bottle of rum. With him the little orplian grew up 
and lived till her removal to Carolina. 



244 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XVni. 



NEW PROVIDENCE AND ITS MINISTERS. 



About twelve miles south of Charlotte, on one of the routes to 
Camden, you will find in a beautiful oak grove, through which the 
great road passes, the place of assemblage for the worship of God, 
of the church and congregation of New Providence, or Providence, 
as it is now more commonly called. Here, as in revolutionary 
times, are gathered from Sabbath to Sabbath, the inhabitants of a 
large section of country, which w-as the scene of many thrilling in- 
cidents, when Lord Cornwallis, with his royal army, tested the prin- 
ciples of the North Carolina Presbyterians. The name of the con- 
gregation was adopted from one in Pennsylvania, and as an acknow- 
ledgment of a kind providence in the circumstances of the. settle- 
ment of the congregation, particularly in their being unmolested by 
the Indians. 

Owing to the distance of this country from a printing press, be- 
fore and for some time after the revolution, few books or pamphlets 
are to be found under the name of any of the Presbyterian minis- 
ters that labored so unremittingly among the churches of this inte- 
resting population. The law of custom had decided that the de- 
struction of manuscripts was a part of preparation for death, as 
solemn and indispensable as the making the last will and testament. 
Very little of the records of the thoughts of these men have been 
preserved from this destruction. And the unfortunate burning of 
some houses, together with the carelessness of those who might 
have rescued some things from oblivion, leaves the present genera- 
tion in wondering ignorance of the trials, and energy, and princi- 
ples of those brave and excellent men. 

The grave of but one minister is found in the burial-place at 
Providence. Step into the yard a few paces from the church, and 
among the chiselled names of Stitt, Potts, McKee, Rea, Patterson, 
McCullock, and Matthews, the oldest of which bears date of 1764, 
you will find the plain monument of Wallis, w'ho served the con- 
gregation from 1792 till 1819. His mother's monument you will 
find in the old grave-yard of Sugar Creek, in the corner opposite to 
Craighead's sassafras trees. Of the previous ministers the accounts 



NEW PROVIDENCE AND ITS MINISTERS, 245 

are scanty, especially as the congregation was not so fortunate as 
some of its neighbors in retaining its ministers for a protracted 
period. Of Mr. Wallis, we shall say more in the close of this 
chapter. 

Settlements in the bounds of this congregation were made about 
the same time as those in Sugar Creek, and Steel Creek, and Rocky 
River, and by the same kind of emigrants. The first ministerial 
labors the settlement enjoyed, beside what they could receive from 
Mr. Craighead, were from the Rev. William Richardson, who was 
licensed by Hanover Presbytery, at a meeting at Capt. Anderson's, 
in Cumberland, Virginia, Jan. 25th 1758. On the ISth of July 
following, at the first meeting of the Presbytery after the union of 
the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, held in Cumberland, 
Mr. Richardson and Mr. Pattillo were ordained. He was appointed 
to attend at Rocky River on the 27th of the September following, 
to perform the installation services for Mr. Craighead, beino- on 
his way to the Cherokees. How long he remained with the Chero- 
kees is not known. In 1761, he is reported as having left Hanover 
Presbytery, and joined the Presbytery in South Carolina, not in con- 
nection with the Synod. In 1762, the Presbytery sustained his 
reasons for joining that Presbytery without dismission from his own, 
with which he was in regular connection. 

Mr. Richardson was the maternal uncle of the famous Wm. Rich- 
ardson Davie, so noted in the Southern war, adopted him as his 
son, superintended his education, and made him heir of an estate, 
every shilling of which Davie expended in equipping the corps of 
which he was made Major in 1780. 

How long he preached in Providence is not known. His resi- 
dence was in South Carolina. 

The first elders in the church were Andrew Rea, Archibald 
Crocket, Joshua Ramsey, and Aaron Howie. For some time pre- 
vious to the organization of the church in 1765, there had been 
but one place acknowledged as the place of worship by the people 
of this congregation, and that is the grove where the meeting-house 
now stands, in the shade of whose trees the first public worship was 
celebrated until a house was built. 

In 1766, there is a notice on the records of the Synod of " a call 
for settlement among them, from Steel Creek and New Providence." 
About this time Mr. Robert Henry, who gathered the church on 
Cub Creek, Virginia, resolved, after ministering to that charge for a 
number of years, to leave them -, and an engagement was made for 
his services in these two congregations. By the records of the 



246 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Hanover Presbytery, it appears he was dismissed from Cub Creek 
in 1766 ; and his death is reported to the Presbytery as having 
taken place May 8th, 1767. 

The following articles of agreement between Providence and 
Clear Creek (now called Philadelphia) have been preserved by 
Wm. Queary. " Whereas, the representation of both congrega- 
tions doth unanimously agree among themselves, in the names of 
both the aforesaid congregations, to stand and abide by each other 
from time to time through all difficulties, in order to obtain the 
labors of a gospel minister, that is to say, the one-half of his 
labors to one congregation, and the other to the other. And for a 
true and sincere union for the truth of the aforesaid articles, the 
representation of both congregations hath hereunto subscribed their 
names, Jan. 27th, 1770. New Providence — John Ramsey, James 
Linn, John Hagens, James Houston, Andrew Reah, James Draffen, 
James Johnston, James Teate, Thomas Black, Robert Stewart : 
Clear Creek—Adam Alexander, Matthew Stewart, John Queary, 
Michael Ligget, John Ford." 

Two of the above names appear in the list of the Mecklenburg 
Declaration, viz : — Adam Alexander and John Queary, which 
shows that the men were public-spirited men, that formed this rep- 
resentation. But we have no' memoranda now to inform us of the 
effects of this union upon the religious concerns of the congregation. 
Neither have we any detailed account of the ecclesiastical concerns 
of the congregation during the arduous struggle of the Revolution. 
It is known that Thomas Reese preached in Mecklenburg for some 
time when the other congregations were generally supplied with at 
least some part of the services of a minister ; and that from his pen 
emanated some of the effective papers that moved the inhabitants of 
Mecklenburg ; he is supposed to have given some part of his time 
to Providence. Mr. McRee came from Steel Creek to supply the 
pulpit, for some time, as he says he often rode from home to preach 
for them on the Sabbatli. Mr. Archibald came over from Rocky 
River and Poplar Tent, and supplied them for a season. The Rev. 
David Barr labored in the bounds for some time, but did not make 
it his permanent residence.' 

The congregation lying on the route of the armies moving north 
or south, suffered its full share in the plunderings which, by the 
account of the British historians, were severe, at the time Cornwallis 
moved on to Charlotte. The night before he approached that village, 
he encamped in Providence, on the ground occupied by Colonel 
Davie, with the few" American forces that behaved so nobly when 



NEW PROVIDENCE AND ITS MINISTERS. 247 

united to the few militia and volunteers that joined them in Char- 
lotte, " keeping in check the whole British army." The greatest 
trial in the war was upon those neighborhoods and sections of coun- 
try subjected to the plunderings of the army of the king. It was 
not a sudden and great danger, or even bloodshed, in a good cause, 
by assault or regular battle, in which the excitement of the occasion 
carries the spirit triumphant through. But an annoyance in the 
smaller matters of property, and the private concerns ; a taking 
away of the comfort of domestic life, a harassing of defenceless fe- 
males and helpless age and children ; and this continued from day 
to day, when all the enthusiasm of excitement had spent its force ; 
and principle itself could scarce sustain the accumulated weight of 
numberless petty privations and aggravations, crowned as they 
sometimes were with conflagration and butchery, that entailed exile 
or poverty. It is a matter of admiration that under the pressure of 
all these evils so few of the inhabitants in Mecklenburg ever thought 
of deserting the cause of liberty, or of " taking protection," though 
many families saw their wealth swept with a merciless hand. And 
the few that yielded in the trial were subjects of commiseration 
rather than of severe censure and harsh denunciation. 

James Wallis, who was the first minister that gave protracted 
service to Providence, spent his ministerial life in the congregation. 
He was born in 1762, in Sugar Creek, son of Ezekiel Wallis. His 
early education was at Liberty Hall in Charlotte ; and his college 
course was completed at Winnsborough, South Carolina, under Dr. 
Barr. He was ordained pastor in 1792, by the Presbytery of Or- 
ange, and never changed his congregation till death. 

Soon after entering upon his office in this congregation, com- 
menced a new and till then unknown conflict about the Bible. 
That the Presbyterian ministers south of Yadkin had been true pa- 
triots, no man in the country, or in the British army, pretended to 
deny. Their names were not unknown in the camp ; and the pul- 
pits of the seven churches poured forth the highest intellectual ef- 
forts in discussing the rights of man, and sustaining the sinking 
spirits of the distressed country, by the abounding consolations of 
the word of God. The minister and his congregation prayed, — the 
father in his family prayed, — the soldier in his tent, and in the 
woods, prayed, — and the commander at the head of the forces often 
commenced the march with prayer. And it was no idle form of 
prayer, but a pouring out of the heart to God Almighty for his pro- 
tection in the struggle for liberty and truth. 

Dr. Robinson, of Poplar Tent, used to tell an anecdote of an old 



248 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

gentleman, by the name of Alexander, in one of the neighboring 
congregations, that did not think of neglecting his religious duties 
though called into camp as a soldier. Being sent out to intercept 
some tories, very early one morning, when his post was assigned 
him, with the general orders to wait their near approach and take 
sure aim, he took the opportunity for a few moments of derotion. 
Taking off his hat he knelt down in the attitude of a worshipper ; 
upon the near approach of the enemy he resumed his post and 
waited the signal. The unhappy tory that encountered the shot of 
his rifle fell dead. The whole party of tories were soon dispersed 
or taken. As in the time of Cromwell the praying soldiers did not 
run or play the coward. 

When the war was over, then came the other contest of fearful 
import, whose influence was felt everywhere, but nowhere in Caro- 
lina with more violence than in Mecklenburg county. The author- 
ity of the king had been discussed and set aside; the battle between 
the crown and the people had been fought, and won by the people. 
Then came the discussion about the dominion of conscience — what 
should govern conscience, philosophy or the Bible ? Should philo- 
sophy dictate to the Bible, or the Bible to all the world ? The 
authority of the Bible underwent a sifting discussion, such as Caro- 
lina had never seen, and may never see again. From the nature of 
the case that discussion was vehement in Mecklenburg, and from 
accidental circumstances embittered in Providence. A debating 
society, — and debating societies for political purposes were common 
in those days, — was formed in the region of country embracing a 
part of Sugar Creek, and Steel Creek and Providence, and furnished 
with a circulating library, replete with infidel philosophy and infi- 
del sentiments on religion and morality. Everything of a religious 
nature was called in question and discussed ; and the standard of 
opposition was raised with a boldness becoming a better cay«e. 
Caldwell of Sugar Creek, and Wallis of Providence, brothers in the 
ministry, and sons-in-law of John M'Knitt Alexander, were in the 
hottest of the battle, as infidelity is never so outrageous as when it 
takes its seat, or strives to take it, in a Christian community. 

With different natural temperament, they met the strife like 
courageous men : Caldwell, cool, clear and amiable, and loved 
where he could not convince ; W^allis, clear, strong, ardent, and 
more dreaded though less loved ; both unfaltering, and unwearied 
and honored. Caldwell left politics to other hands, and preached 
the gospel; Wallis proclaimed the great principles of democracy 
as part of his creed ; and asserted, with them, the unlimited control 



NEW PROVIDENCE xVND ITS MINISTERS. 249 

of the word of God in all matters pertaining to conscience, whether 
public or private. He prepared a pamphlet in which were con- 
densed the argmnents of Watson, Paley and Leslie, and circulated 
it among his people and through the country. A pamphlet as well 
calculated to produce the effect designed — the exhibition of the evi- 
dences of revelation in contradiction to all infidel notions — has sel- 
dom been issued from the press. A reprint would be advantageous 
where discussion on the subject of revelation is called for. 

The debating society embraced wealth and talent, and for a time 
maintained the contest with spirit. Emigration to Tennessee, in 
which the library was carried across the mountains, and the great 
revival of 1802 broke it up. 

While this discussion was going on, and men were arguing for 
and against the Bible with excited and sometimes angry feelings, 
another cause of unhappiness arose. Mr. Wallis had occasion to 
be absent a few Sabbaths, and obtained the favor of Rev. Wm. C. 
Davis, to supply his pulpit one Sabbath. Mr. Davis, on the day 
of his supply, made use of the version of Psalms by W^atts. As 
the congregation had never agreed to introduce this version, and as 
many famiUes were opposed to their use in public worship, offence 
was taken ; and the blame was thrown on Mr. Wallis as having 
been privy to the matter. The discontented withdrew, and for a 
time worshipped in a building about three hundred yards from the 
old stand ; this, however, was soon abandoned, and the seceding 
families now worship at Sardis, about seven miles distant; the sub- 
ject of Psalmody being the principal matter of division. 

The great revival of 1802 and onward, a particular account of 
which is given in the chapter on James M'Gready and the great 
revival, had a happy influence on this congregation. A camp- 
meeting was held within their bounds, commencing Friday, March 
23d, 1802, at which it was supposed from five to six thousand per- 
sons were present. To accommodate this great assemblage, after a 
sermon at the public stand in the centre, about 9 o'clock, worship 
was continued at five different places. For the first three days little 
impression was made, and the opinion that " all was the work of 
man, and the effects of the power of oratory," which had been circu- 
lated by those inclined to believe in the infidel notions, was gaining 
ground. But on Sabbath night a great impression was visible, and 
before the close of the meeting a large number were hopeful con- 
verts ; and among these were some that had been prominent in 
their unbelief. There are some living to this day who were con- 



250 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

verts at that meeting, whose lives have been those of consistent 
Christians. 

Mr. Wallis taught a classical school many years. The deep con- 
viction, that pmity of religion and morals could not long survive 
the introduction of an ignorant ministry into the pulpit, urged on 
the ministers of the Presbyterian church to unremitting efforts to 
establish and keep alive high schools. In these efforts they re- 
ceived the aid of intelligent laymen, who were impelled by the full 
belief, that the welfare of the body politic is for ever indissolubly 
united with mental cultivation and the correct training of the moral 
principles. Long has the academy stood near Providence church, 
and there may it long stand. The church and the school-house 
were inseparable in the early Presbyterian settlements. Mr. Wal- 
lis taught school successfully, and his successors have kept the doors 
of the academy open for the youth of Mecklenburg ; and when the 
actors of the present generation have passed from the stage, their 
record will say of many of them, that their education was com- 
menced, and of others, that it was finished there. It does not appear 
that Mr. Wallis was driven to school-keeping by poverty of his 
means ; but from the necessity of the country at large, and his 
congregation in particular. 

Mr. Wallis was for some time before his death a member of the 
board of trustees of the University. This shows the estimation in 
which he was held by his political friends, when there w'ere so many 
Presbyterian ministers of eminence as teachers, from whom to 
choose. 

Mr. Wallis was of stature rather below the middling height, 
small in person, quick in his motions, and elastic in his movements; 
excitable in his temper, warm in his attachments, ardent in his de- 
livery of sermons, and not subject to fear. His congregation 
flourished under his ministry. He finished his course in the year 
1819, in the 57th year of his age, and the 27th of his ministry. 

In the year 1823, the Rev. Samuel Williamson was called and 
settled as pastor ; in this office he continued till his removal to the 
presidency of Davidson college in the year 1840. During his 
ministry, about the year 1831, those members of Providence living 
on the north side of McAlpin's Creek, from four to ten miles from 
Providence church, with a few other families, were organized as a 
separate church and congregation by the name of Sharon, to which 
a part of the labors of the pastor, Mr. Williamson, w^as given. 

Providence abounds in localities of revolutionary interest. A 
complete history of the southern war will bring to notice many 
places now fast passing even from traditionary remembrance. 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 251 



CHAPTER XIX. 

JOSEPH GRAHAM. 



A BRIEF memoir of the several members of the Mecklenburg Con- 
vention would present the interesting spectacle of noble spirits, 
capable of the highest efforts of patriotism, self-denial and manly- 
daring, acting out in a secluded frontier and a narrow boundary all 
the imperishable principles on which our Republic is based. The 
great truths which their minds embraced and their hearts loved, 
will remain unchanged and unchangeable. They may be modified, 
but when they cease to be the principles of the American Republic, 
a new government will have arisen, a new battle will be fought in 
the renovated plains of Asia or Africa, or Liberty must depart from 
the earth Tor ever. 

The distance from a flourishing printing-press — so great an evil 
during the Revolution — has been unfavorable to the notoriety of 
these retired but eminent men. Short memoirs, funeral orations, 
and collections of anecdotes, prepared by friends, which would 
have given all the desired information, were left to perish in manu- 
script, or die with those who had, been witnesses, or live in the 
dim and twilight existence of tradition. All the prominent actors 
in the events of May 20th and 30th, 1775, have passed away; 
very few of those who were witnesses, and in the early days of 
youth, are living at this distant period ; only here and there is one 
who can tell the deeds and recount the sufferings, and relate the 
anecdotes of the men of the Revolution. Brief notices will be 
given, interspersed in the body of the narratives and intermingled 
in the chapters, concerning these men whose memory must be dear 
to posterity. 

The man whose. name stands at the head of this chapter, maybe 
taken as an example of the enterprise, and labors, and sufferings of 
the young men of Carolina, who in defence of liberty spent their 
strength, gave their property, and shed their blood. There were 
multitudes whose names are worthy of a record, not so fortunate 
as this man, that found in a son-in-law a recorder of his deeds and 
a memorialist of his life, who has favored the public with a speci- 
men of Mecklenburg youth in the Revolution. 

As you go from Beattie's Ford towards Lincolnton, about eight 



252 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

miles from the Catawba, and about ten from the village, you pass Ve- 
suvius Furnace, the product of the skill and enterprise of that 
citizen-soldier, and soldier-citizen, Joseph Graham. Here he lived 
some forty years of his life, advancing the internal improvements of 
his country w^ith persevering invention ; planning, building and per- 
fecting his iron-works, increasing his own resources as he added to 
the conveniences of his neighborhood. Here he reared a family of 
children ; seven of whom survived him., though his life was pro- 
longed to seventy-seven years. Here, as a neighbor and head of 
a family, like Mr. Hunter, the minister of Unity and Goshen, on 
whose ministry he attended, Mr. Graham exercised that frank hos- 
pitality and cheerful intercourse, that precision in principle and 
decision in action characteristic of those soldiers and officers of the 
Revolution, who went into the camp patriots, and came out unpol- 
luted by its vices, and unhardened by its sufferings and bloody 
scenes. 

Graham and Hunter were both spectators of the convention in 
Charlotte, — Hunter, six days past his twentieth birthday, — Gra- 
ham not yet sixteen. Both saw much service in the war that fol- 
lowed ; after the peace Hunter served his country as a faithful 
minister of the gospel, and Graham, as a high-minded, noble- 
spirited citizen, a sheriff, a military officer, a magistrate, and in the 
latter part of his life, an elder in the Presbyterian church. Both 
were of that race from the north of Ireland, familiarly called Scotch- 
Irish, whose emigrant families filled the country tracked by the 
bloodshed and ravages of the invading army under Cornwallis ; 
and poured forth soldiers for the contest for freedom of opinion and 
personal liberty as brave as their descendants have been fortunate 
in winning the honors of their fellow citizens. Hunter was brought 
from Ireland when a boy ; Graham was born in Pennsylvania ; 
both grew to years of manhood in Mecklenburg count}''. North 
Carolina ; both were deprived of their father in early life, and both 
were trained by a widowed mother. What widows there were in 
Carolina ! Widow Graham, Widow Hunter, Widow Brevard, 
Widow Flinn, and Widow Sharpe. Joseph Graham was born in 
Pennsylvania, October 3d, 1759, and at about the age of seven 
years was settled in Carolina with his widowed mother, who 
brought her five children to the neighborhood of Charlotte. His 
coming to Mecklenburg was not far from the time of the birth of 
Andrew Jackson, since General and President of the United 
States, which took place March 15th, 1757, on the Waxhaw in 
South Carolina, about thirty miles from Charlotte. Jackson, like 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 253 

Hunter and Graham, was early bereaved of his father ; and to this 
was soon added the irreparable loss of his mother, who, emigrating 
from the north of Ireland, with the characteristic attachment to 
liberty, was made a sacrifice to the independence of the United 
States, dying a victim to the hardships of the war. 

Mr. Graham was accustomed to labor from his childhood. As 
his frame was inured to hardships, his mind was not left unculti- 
vated. He had for a time the benefit of the instruction given in 
the flourishing academy in Charlotte, afterwards known as Queen's 
Museum, and subsequently as Liberty Hall, the nursery of inde- 
pendent youth in noble sentiments. 

In the month of May, 1778, in his nineteenth year, we find him 
an officer in the company of Captain Gooden, of the 4th regiment 
of Nortli Carolina regular troops, under the command of Colonel 
Archibald Lytle, marching to the rendezvous at Bladensburg, in 
Maryland. In Caswell county the regiment met the news of the 
battle of Monmouth, and the consequent retreat of the British 
forces to New York ; and proceeded no farther. Mr. Graham re- 
turned home on furlough, and spent the summer on his mother's 
farm. 

In November, of the same year, he was in active service on the 
Savannah, under General Rutherford. In the spring following, 
we find him as quarter-master with the troops under the command 
of General Lincoln, in his campaign against General Prevost, and 
taking part in the hard-fought battle of the Stono, June 20th, 1779, 
which lasted an hour and a half. Many soldiers perished from 
the excessive heat of the day, among whom xwsls the eldest brother 
of General Jackson. In the July following he was taken with a 
severe illness of two months, received his discharge near Dor- 
chester, and returned home. 

•Having passed the winter with his mother, he was ploughing in 
her fields in May, 1780, when he received the news that Charles- 
ton had been surrendered to the British arms ; that Cornwallis had 
moved rapidly on to Camden ; that Buford's Virginia regiment re- 
treating, and as was supposed out of reach of the enemy, was 
surprised by Tarleton on tl^ Waxhaw, and miserably butchered, few 
escaping unwounded, and'many cut down crying for quarter ; and 
that the British forces were within forty miles of Charlotte. The 
inhabitants of the Waxliaw fled for shelter from Lord Rawdon's 
oppression to Mecklenburg, Rowan, and Guilford, in North Caro- 
lina ; young Jackson's mother residing for a time in the family of 
the Wilsons. A regiment was raised ii Mecklenburg, which spent 



254 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the summer in assailing the troops, and opposing the motions of 
Rawdon ; of this regiment Graliam was adjutant. 

On the 16th of August, 1780, Gates was defeated near Camden, 
and fled to Hillsborough, The whole country was in alarm ; dis- 
tressed, but not broken. The extreme of danger overbalanced in 
the minds of some the love of liberty ; and some made submission 
to the king's authority, while the others took up arms more vigor- 
ously than ever in the defence of all that is dear. Cornwallis 
marched towards Charlotte, that " hot-bed of rebellion,'''' " that hor- 
nets' nesty'' as his lordship afterwards named it, to take a position in 
the midst of the most disaffected region in the South. Graham was 
ordered by General Davidson to repair to Charlotte, take command 
of the forces assembled there, and join Colonel William Richard- 
son Davie, who was severely annoying the advance of the British 
army. 

The night Cornwallis took possession of Davie's encampment 
on the Waxhaw, Davie encamped at Providence, about twenty-five 
miles from his lordship, on his way to Charlotte. On the morning 
of the 25th of September the British army was on the advance 
towards the same place ; about midnight Davie entered the town. 
On the morning of the 26th the royal forces approached the place. 
Tarleton's dragoons rushed forward, and were repulsed ; — again 
rushed forward, and were again repulsed. A regiment being or- 
dered to sustain the charge, they rushed on the third time, — and 
were the third time repulsed by the small force assembled in the 
town. A regiment of infantry deploying on their flanks, the forces 
under Davie and Graham retired along the Salisbury road, keep- 
ing up a well-directed fire from the court-house to the Gum Tree. 

At the farm occupied by Mr. , just out of town, where they 

halted and checked the advance of the pursuing forces, Graham nar- 
rowly escaped a double danger from the balls of the enemy and 
the bursting of a gun in the hands of a soldier who stood near. 
The forces again formed on the hill near Sugar Creek meeting- 
house. The delay at this place, protracted by the zeal of Major 
White, rendered their further retreat dangerous, a body of dra- 
goons having gone round their right to intercept them at the Cross 
Roads, a little beyond. This movement of the enemy was dis- 
covered just in time for the greater part of the retreating forces to 
escape. After a hot pursuit. Colonel Locke, of Rowan, was over- 
taken and shot down on the margin of the pond near Alexander 
Kennedy's lane ; and Graham was overtaken in the skirt of the 
woods some distance to the right of the road, between Mr. Ken- 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 255 

nedy's and J. A. Houston's, cut down, severely mangled, and left 
for dead. He had received nine wounds — six from sabre cuts, 
and- three from bullets. His stock-buckle intercepted one of the 
cuts upon his neck, and bore marks of the severity of the blow 
aimed at his life. Four deep sabre gashes scarred his head. 

After the enemy left him, he crawled with difficulty to some 
water near, and slaking his intolerable thirst, washed as well as he was 
able his numerous and painful wounds. For a time he despaired 
of life, and expected to die unnoticed in that secluded spot. To- 
wards night he was discovered by the neighbors, who were looking 
around the battle-field to find their wounded countrymen, and con- 
veyed to the house of a widow lady, the mother of Mrs. Susannah 
Alexander, now living. Here he was concealed in an upper 
room, or loft, and attended upon through the night by the 
widow and her daughter, who were expecting that he would die 
from the number and severity of his wounds. Once he fell asleep 
and breathed so quietly, and looked so pale, as they came to in- 
quire his wants, they thought he was dead. 

The next day, the 27th, the lady of one of the British officers, 
with a small company of horsemen, visited the house, in search of 
fresh provisions. By some means she discovered there was a 
wounded man in the loft. On pressing the inquiry she found he 
was an officer, and his wounds severe ; and offi3red to send a sur- 
geon from the army to dress his vrounds, as soon as she should 
reach the camp at Charlotte. Alarmed at this discovery, Graham, 
summoning all his powers to the highest exertion, caused himself 
to be put on horseback, the succeeding night, and was carried to 
his mother's, and from 'thence speedily to the hospital. Three 
balls were taken from his body. The severity of the wounds and 
the loss of blood confined for about two months this active 
soldier. 

After the rencontre on the hill, near Sugar Creek meeting- 
house, and the consequent pursuit, the American forces retreated 
without further opposition. There had been no hope of successful 
defence of the town, or effi^ctual resistance of the advancing enemy. 
But from the time of Buford's Massacre, in May, — when the Pres- 
byterian church on the Waxhaw became a hospital, where young 
Jackson first saw wounds and the carnage of war, — and more par- 
ticularly after the defeat of Gates in August, the patriots were 
exasperated, driven to madness, by the cruelties of the tories and 
the marauding parties of the British army. Armed bands of the 
patriots, whigs, as they were called, were constantly hovering 



256 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

round thp enemy in tlieir camp and on their march, intercepting 
their supplies, cutting off their foraging parties, and retaliating 
distress. These annoyances caused Cornwallis and his officers to 
move cautiously, and keep their army in a compact body ; and the 
country not immediately in their track was in a measure free from 
devastation, it being entirely unsafe for any small party to venture 
far from the main body. The report of a foraging party would 
spread with wonderful rapidity, and the irritated inhabitants collect 
and harass the plunderers back to the camp, or force them to take 
shelter under the cannon of his lordship. 

Having recovered from his wounds, Graham, at the request of 
Gen. Wm. L. Davidson, the commander in chief of the militia of 
the western counties of Carolina, undertook, in December, 1780, 
to raise a body of men to be under his own command. In two 
weeks he embodied fifty-five mounted riflemen, armed and accoutred 
at their own expense ; some, beside their rifles, carrying swords, and 
some, pistols ; all prepared for hard service, and entering the field 
without a quarter-master, and in expectation of little pay for the three 
months of their engagement, which proved months of hard service. 

The celebrated victory of the Cowpcns was gained by Morgan, 
over Tarleton, on the 17th of January, 1781. To secure his six 
hundred prisoners, Morgan commenced his march towards Vir- 
ginia, through Lincoln county, aiming to cross the Catawba at 
Beattie's ford. Cornwallis and Greene commenced their march to 
the same ford, the royal army on the western side of the river, to 
intercept Morgan, and the American forces on the eastern side, to 
meet him at the ford and secure his prisoners. Then commenced 
the trial of generalship between the two commanders, to be deter- 
mined by force and skill, the reward of victory to be the prisoners 
of Morgan and the possession of the Southern States. Much, 
perhaps we might say everything, depended on the reaching the 
ford first. Each of the three parties had about the same distance 
to march. Morgan had the start, but was encumbered with the 
prisoners. The two rival Generals moved on with all possible 
celerity ; the royal army destroying their heavy baggage, by the 
example of their General ; the American forces having but little 
to carry or destroy. Greene left his army and rode across the 
country and had an interview with Morgan, who pressed on with 
wonderful spirit, ambitious to secure his prisoners, and reached the 
ford unmolested. On the morning after he crossed, Cornwallis 
appeared upon the Western bank, hot in the pursuit, and disap- 
pointed of his prey. 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 257 

The river had risen the night after Morgan crossed, and was 
impassable. The two days thus gained saw Morgan far on his 
way to Virginia, and Greene moving slowly towards the Yadkin, 
between him and Cornwallis. General Davidson, with the North 
Carolina militia, was left to delay the crossing of the enemy as 
long as possible. Captain Graham was posted with his rifle com- 
pany at Cowan's Ford, some distance below Beattie's, and at that 
ford, after many feints, his Lordship commenced his passage of the 
river. The riflemen kept up a constant and galling fire upon the 
advancing ranks, and many an officer and soldier were sent float- 
ing down the stream, victims of their deadly aim. General Da- 
vidson, hearing the firing, came down to the river bank, accom- 
panied by Col. Wm. Polk, and the Rev. Thomas H. McCaule, 
pastor of Centre congregation, in whose bounds this action took 
place, and while taking observations, received a fatal wound and 
fell dead from his horse. The deadly shot was supposed to be 
from the hand of a tory, the British soldiers using only muskets, 
and the wound of Davidson being made by a rifle ball. No one 
claimed the honor of piloting the enemy to the ford, or of aiming 
the fatal shot. Such a preeminence would have been fatal to the 
claim^ant in Nortli Carolina for years. 

The North Carolina militia, under the command of General 
Pickens, hung upon the rear of the enemy, as Cornwallis pursued 
Greene across the State into 'Virginia, and continued to molest 
them in their encampment at Hillsborough, Capt. Graham, with 
his company and some troops from Rowan, surprised and cap- 
tured the guard at Hart's Mill, only a mile and a half from head- 
quarters, and then united with the forces of Col. Lee, of Virginia, 
and the next day assisted in the surprise of Col. Pyles, with his 
regiment of three hundred tories, advancing to join 4he army of 
his Lordship, and within two miles of the forces under Tarleton. 

Mistaking the American forces for Tarleton's troop, which was 
known to be near, the tories raised the shout of " God save the 
king,'''' and never discovered their mistake till trampled down by 
the cavalry, sword in hand. The discomfiture was complete, and 
the forces under Lee escaped without loss, passing within a mile 
of Tarleton's corps. Lee used to speak of the surprise of these 
tories with great enthusiasm, and describe graphically their con- 
sternation upon discovering their mistake. He led his troops along 
the front of their line, which were shouting him a welcome ; he 
traversed the whole front unsuspected, he and his men waving 
their swords. His command, " wheel into line,"" gave no alarm. 
17 



258 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

At the word " charge,'''' his company leaped their horses upon the 
ranks of the tories, and in a moment their swords were bathed in 
blood. It was the most complete surprise of the whole war. 

In the course of a short time after this, Captain Graham was in 
the engagement under Lee at Clapp's Mill, on the Alamance ; and 
in a few days after, at Whitsell's Mill, under Colonel Washington. 
With these officers, Graham was employed in harassing all forag- 
ing parties, and beating up the quarters of the tories, till the 14th 
March, when the term of enlistment for which he had engaged his 
men expired. 

As was usual with the partizan corps, Graham's company 
insisted on returning home for refreshment after their term of en- 
listment was expired, the 14th of March, their resources being 
exhausted and their engagements having been fulfilled. By order 
of General Greene they were marched in a compact body till the 
Yadkin was crossed, and there disbanded. By this movement, 
Graham and his men were deprived of the honor of assisting in 
the important battle at Guilford Court-house, after having taken so 
active a part in the preparatory steps. The very next day after 
crossing the river, far in the rear, Comwallis having accepted the 
challenge of Greene, gave battle ; and in two days was on his way 
to Wilmington, flying from his defeated adversary. 

The western part of North Carolina had rest during the summer 
of 1781. In the early part of September, General Rutherford was 
released from the captivity he had endured from the time of the 
defeat of Gates. Immediately upon his release he took the ne- 
cessary steps to raise three companies of dragoons and two 
hundred mounted infantry ; of these, Robert Smith was appointed 
colonel, and Graham, who had been engaged in their organization, 
was appointed major. On their march to Wilmington, near the 
Raft Swamp, Graham, with ninety dragoons and forty infantry, dis- 
persed a large body of tories who had assembled at the command 
of Cornwallis ; and soon after, with one troop of dragoons and two 
of infanti-y, he surprised and defeated another near Wilmington. 
On the next day, Major Graham led, in person, the attack made 
on the British garrison, near the same place. The last engage- 
ment in which lie participated during the war, resulted in the 
defeat of the celebrated Colonel Gagncy, near Lake Waccamaw. 
After a long series of depredations, practised on the patriots with- 
out relenting, he was surprised and entirely defeated. In this 
engagement Major Graham commanded three companies, and 
acted a brave part in this last action in which he participated 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 259 

during the Revolutionary war, whicli was speedily closed in the 
South, by the surrender of Cornwayis, at Yorktown. 

After the close of the war he was elected the first sheriff of 
Mecklenburg county, and gave as great satisfaction to his fellow- 
citizens in civil, as he had done in military life. For many years 
he was a prominent member of the General Assembly of the State, 
from the same county. In the year 1787, he was married to the 
second daughter of Major John Davidson, one of the members of 
the Mecklenbiu-g Convention, and by her became the father of 
twelve children, seven of whom survived him. Soon after his 
marriage he removed to Lincoln county, and proceeded to erect 
the iron works which gave him employment and affluence, and 
were a source of convenience and wealth to his neighborhood and 
fellow-citizens of the county. 

In the year 1814, by the strong solicitations of the governor of 
the State, he accepted the commission of general of a force to be 
sent to the aid of the volunteers of Tennessee and Georgia, acting 
under Generals Jackson, Coffee and Carroll, in repelling the mur- 
derous aggressions of the Creek Indians. His private affairs 
required liis attention at home ; his public spirit prompted him to 
march with a fine body of men to the seat of war. He arrived in 
time to assist in bringing it to a close, and received the submission 
of several hundred of the Indians, after the battle fought by 
General Jackson, at the Horse Shoe. After more than thirty 
years of unparalleled prosperity had crowned the labors of the 
Revolution, and each had been prospered in their private concerns, 
and shared fully in the honors of their constituents, Graham and 
Jackson, whose boyhood and youth had been spent in the same 
.troublous scenes, met to congratulate each other and their country- 
men, at the successful termination of a vexatious Indian war. 

For many years he was Major General of the fifth Division of 
North Carolina militia, and throughout his life manifested the 
same generosity and bravery that enabled him during the Re- 
volutionary war to be the most successful man in Mecklenburg 
county, in raising a company or a legion. Those that served 
under him testified to his worth as a man, and as an ofiicer. 

As a magistrate and civil ofiicer he was dignified, firm, a de- 
fender of the rights of his fellow-citizens, and a supporter of the 
laws. Freedom of person and property under the government 
of km, formed the basis of his political creed. What Judge 
Murphy says of Archibald Henderson, with the slight change of 
a few circumstances, may be said of Joseph Graham, in his pub- 



260 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lie course. Speaking of Henderson, the Judge says, — " No man 
better understood the theory of our government, no man more 
admired it, no man gave more practical proofs of his admiration. 
The sublime idea that he lived under the government of laws was 
for ever uppermost in his mind, and seemed to give a coloring to 
all his actions. As he acknowledged no dominion but that of the 
laws, he bowed with reverence to their authority, and taught obe- 
dience no less by his example than his precept. In the county 
courts, when the justice of the peace administered the laws, he 
was no less respectful in his deportment than in the highest tri- 
bunal of the State. He considered obedience to the law to be 
the first duty of a citizen, and it seemed to be the great object of 
his professional life to inculcate a sense of duty, and give the 
administration of the laws an impressive character. He said the 
laws were made for the common people, and they should be in- 
terpreted and administered by rules which they understood, when- 
ever it was practicable. He said the rules of pedantry did not 
suit this country, nor this age, that common sense had acquired 
the dominion in politics and religion, and was gaining it in law." 
In these sentiments all sound republicans must unite, however 
they may differ on smaller matters. From the first, the inhabit- 
ants of Me6klenburg had declared that it was not against law, but 
against ojjpression, they raised their arms. The fourth resolution 
of this Convention says, " That as we now acknowledge the ex- 
istence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, 
within this county, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of 
life, all, each, and every of our former laws, wherein, never- 
theless, the crown of Great Britain never can be considered as 
holding rights, privileges, immunities, or authority therein." 

His religious principles were those of his ancestors, and must 
be those of his descendants. Freedom of conscience in the ex- 
ercise of devotional feelings, in public and in private, was prized 
beyond all price. Freedom in religion was the great object for 
which his ancestors had contended in Ireland ; for it they had emi- 
grated to Carolina ; and for it, in conjunction with freedom of pro- 
perty and person, under the goverinnent of law, he had taken up 
arms and fought. For it he had shed his blood in youth, and for 
it, in his old age, he would have died. 

One who knew General Graham well, from long acquaintance, 
says : " His intercourse with otliers was marked by great dignity 
of deportment, delicacy of feeling, cheerfulness of spirit, and 
equality of temper. Men of learning and high standing have often 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 261 

expressed much gratification by his company, and surprise at 
the extent and accuracy of his knowledge. He was far, very far 
removed from all those feelings of selfishness, vanity, deception, 
or envy, which unfit men for the duties and joys of social life. 
His eye was always open to the virtues of his friends ; his heart 
was always ready to reciprocate their kindness, to sympathize 
with their sorrows, and overlook their infirmities. His hand, his 
time, his counsel and his influence, were all at the command of 
those who shared his confidence, and deserved his affection. 

" But there was another circle nearer to his heart, in which he 
was still better prepared to shine ; and in which true excellency 
displayed, is a brighter and surer evidence of worth. Justice 
could not be done to his character without being known in the 
family circle. As a husband, a father, and a master, those alone 
who were the objects of his attachment, forbearance, and tender- 
ness, could duly appreciate his conduct and demeanor. 

" He possessed a lofty and delicate sense of personal honor and 
virtuous feeling. His presence was always a rebuke to the arts 
and abominations of evil speaking, profanity, and defamation. If 
he could not speak well of his fellow-men, he was wise and firm 
enough to say nothing. He regarded the reputation of others as 
a sacred treasure, and would never stoop to meddle with the 
private history, or detract from the good name of those around him. 
Me felt that the sources of his enjoyment, and the causes of his 
elevation, were not to be found in the calamities or vices of his 
fellow-men, and hence his lips were closed to the tales of slander, 
and his bosom a stranger to the wiles of calumny. 

" But General Graham did not believe, when he had served his 
country, his family, and his friends, that his work on earth was 
finished. With an unwavering conviction of the truth and import- 
ance of religion, he professed to serve God, and to seek for salva- 
tion by faith in Christ. For a long period of time, he was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, under the ministry of Dr. Hunter ; 
and for ten or twelve years previous to his death, was a ruling 
elder of Unity, under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Adams. He 
cherished the most profound respect for the ordinances and duties 
of Christianity, attended with deep interest and uniform punctuali- 
ty upon the means of grace. He delighted much in reading the 
Word of God, and in hearkening to the instructions of the ministers 
of the gospel, for whom he always manifested the greatest regard. 
In selecting his library, he proved how high an estimate he placed 
upon Christian instruction, and in his most unreserved intercourse 



262 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

with pious friends, his deep and pervading concern for true and 
undefilcd religion was apparent. No circumstance would deter 
him from manifesting the most decided contempt for the groveUing 
spirit of infidehty and irrehgion." 

Accustomed in his youth to expose himself to instant death in 
a good cause, and in his age, girding his loins and trimming his 
lamp according to the gospel, his final departure by apoplexy 
coming suddenly, could be neither distressing nor alarming. He 
rode from Lincolnton, on the 10th of November, 1836, and on the 
12th, closed his eyes for ever. He was buried in a spot chosen by 
himself and Captain Alexander Brevard, as a place of sepulture for 
their families. Captain Brevard was brother of Dr. Ephraim 
Brevard, the draughtsman of the Declaration ; served as an officer in 
the Continental army ; was connected in marriage with the sister 
of Mrs. Graham, both ladies being daughters of Major John David- 
son ; was a firm friend and neighbor of General Graham ; with 
him, served as elder of the Presbyterian church ; and with him, 
lies buried in the spot of their choice, a secluded place walled in 
Avith rock, on the Great Road from Beattie's Ford, by Brevard's 
Furnace, to Lincolnton. On the stone that marks Graham's grave, 
you may read, 

Sacred to the Memory of 
Major General. Joseph Graham, • 

who died, Nov. 12th, 1836, aged 77 years. 

" He was a brave, intelligent, and distinguished officer in the 
Revolutionary war, and in various campaigns from May, 1778, to 
Nov., 1781, commanded in fifteen engagements, with signal 
courage, wisdom, and success. 

" On the 26th of Sept., 1780, after a gallant defence of the gTound 
first consecrated by the Declaration of American Independence, he 
was wounded near to Charlotte. 

" In 1814, he commanded the troops of North Carolina, in their 
expedition against the Creek Indians. 

" His life was a bright and illustrious pattern of domestic, 
social, and pubhc virtues. 

" Modest, amiable, upright, and pious, he lived a noble orna- 
ment to his country, a faithful friend to the church, and a rich 
blessing to his family ; and died with the hope of a glorious im- 
mortality." 

A good portrait of General Ciraham maybe seen at Cottage 



JOSEPH GRAHAM. 263 

Home, the residence of the Rev. R, H. Morrison, D.D., in Unity 
congregation, Lincoln county. The picture represents a fine bold 
forehead, blue eye, thin lip, with the shoulders and chest of a 
robust man of middling stature. The features of the face indicate 
calmness, kindness, and decision. You would not expect the ori- 
ginal easily to be made angry, or alarmed, or driven from his pur- 
pose. And the unvarying testimony of all that knew him, is that 
his face was an index of his heart. 

The more the character and principles of the men of the Revo- 
lution are known, the more profound the veneration for their me- 
mory. Their persons have passed away — scarce a vestige remains. 
May their principles flourisli for ever ! 



264 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

BATTLE OF KIXg's MOUNTAIN. 



The following paper was drawn up by General Graham, who was 
familiar with the country around the Mountain, knew some of 
the officers engaged in the battle, and previous to writing this de- 
scription visited the battle-ground with a son of one of the officers. 
From his known habits of observation and correctness, and his fa- 
miliarity wuth military detail, there is no doubt that this is the most 
graphic account that has ever been given of that celebrated and 
important action. He drew a beautiful plot of the battle-ground, 
and the position of the forces at different times during the day of 
the action. 

" After the defeat of General Gates and the army under his com- 
mand, on the 16th day of. August, 1780, and the defeat of General 
Sumpter, two days after, near Rocky Mount, by Colonel Tarleton, 
the South was almost entirely abandoned to the enemy. Most of 
the troops, both officers and men, who had escaped from Gates's 
defeat, passed through Charlotte, N. C, where most of the militia 
of Mecklenburg county were assembled in consequence of the 
alarm ; the regular troops chiefly passed on to Hillsborough, where 
General Gates foially established his head-quarters. 

" Wm. L. Davidson, who had served as lieutenant-colonel of the 
regulars in the Northern Antiy, was appointed brigadier-general of 
the militia in the Salisbury district, in the place of General Ruther- 
ford, who was taken prisoner at Gates's defeat. He formed a brigade, 
and encamped on McAlpin's Creek, about eight miles below Char- 
lotte, and in the course of tw^o or three weeks was reinforced by 
General Sumner, a contmental officer, but having no regulars to 
command, took command of the militia from the counties of Guil- 
ford, Caswxll, Orange, and others. 

" After Gates's defeat, the attention of Lord Cornwallis w^as 
chiefly occupied with burying the dead, taking care of the wounded, 
and forwarding, under a suitable guard, the great number of pri- 
soners he had taken, to the city of Charleston, and regulating the 
civil government he was estalDlishing in South Carolina, and ex- 
amining the state of the posts occupied by his troops on the Con- 
garee, Ninetv-Six, and Augusta. By the 1st of September he 



BATTLE OF fclNo's MOUNTAIN. 265 

had his arrangements made, and detached Colonel Ferguson over 
the Wateree, with only one hundred and ten regulars, under the 
command of Captain Dupeister, and about the same number of 
tories ; but with an ample s\ipply of arms and other military stores. 
His movements were at first rapid, endeavoring to intercept the re- 
treat of a party of j\Iountain-men, Avho were harassing the upper 
settlement of tories in South Carolina, Failing in this, he after- 
wards moved slowly, and frequently halted to collect all the tories 
he could persuade to join him. He passed Broad River, and be- 
fore the last of September encamped at a place called Gilberts- 
town, within a short distance of where the thriving village of 
Rutherfordton now stands. His force had increased to upwards 
of 1,000 men. On his march to this place, he had furnished 
arms to such of his new recruits as were without them. The 
greater part of them had rifles ; but to a part of them, he had them 
to fix a large knife they usually carried, made small enough at the 
butt end, for two inches or more of the handle, to slip into the 
muzzle of the rifle, so that it might be occasionally used as a 
bayonet. 

" Although Colonel Ferguson failed to overtake the detachment 
of Mountain-men alluded to, he took two of them prisoners, who 
had become separated from their commands. In a day or two he 
paroled them, and enjoined them to inform the ofiicers on the west- 
ern waters, that if they did not desist from their opposition to the 
British arms, and take protection under his standard, he would 
march his army over the mountains, hang their leaders, and lay 
waste the countr)^ with fii-e and sword. 

" Colonel Charles McDowell, of Burke county, on the approach 
of Ferguson with so large a force, had gone over the mountains 
to obtain assistance, and was in consultation with Colonel John 
Sevier and Colonel Isaac Shelby what plan should be pursued, 
when the two paroled men spoken of arrived and delivered their 
message from Colonel Ferguson. It was decided that each of 
them should use his best eflbrts to raise all the men that could be 
enlisted, and that this force, when collected, should meet on the 
Wataga, on the 25th of September. It was also agi-eed that 
Colonel Shelby should give intelligence of their movements to 
Colonel William Campbell, of the adjoining county of Washing- 
ton, in Virginia, with the hope that he would raise what force he 
could and co-operate with them. They met on the Wataga the 
day appointed, and passed the mountains on the 30th of Septem- 
ber, where they were joined by Colonel Benjamin Cleaveland, and 



266 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Major Joseph Winston, from Wilks and Surry counties, North 
Carohna. On examining their force, it was found to numlDer as 
follows, viz : 

" From Washington county, Virginia, under Col. Wm. 

Campbell 400 

" From Sulhvan county, North Carolina, under Col, Isaac 

Shelby 240 

" From Washington county, North Carolina, under Col. John 

Sevier 240 

" From Burke and Rutherford counties, North Carolina, un- 
der Col. Charles McDowell 160 

" From Wilks and Surry counties. North Carolina, under 

Col. Cleaveland and Major James Winston . . 350 

Total 1390 

" Col. ]Perguson having accurate intelligence of the force col- 
lecting against him, early on the 4th of October, ordered his 
men to march, and remained half an hour after they had started 
writing a despatch to Lord Cornwallis, no doubt informing him of 
his situation and soliciting aid. The letter was committed to the 
care of the noted Abraham Collins (him of counterfeit memo- 
ry) and another person by the name of Quinn, with injunctions to 
deliver it as soon as possible. They set out and attempted to pass 
the direct road to Charlotte, but having to pass through some 
whig settlements, they were surprised and pursued, and being 
compelled to secrete themselves by day and travel by night, they 
did not reach Charlotte until the morning of the 7th of October, 
the day of the battle. Colonel Ferguson encamped the first night 
at the noted place called the Cowpens, about twenty miles from 
Gilbertstown. On the 5th of October he crossed the Broad 
River, at what is now called Dear's Ferry, sixteen miles. On the 
6th, he marched up the Ridge Road, between the waters of King's 
and Buffalo creeks, until he came to the fork, turning to the right 
across King's Creek, and through a gap in the mountain towards 
Yorkville, about fourteen miles. There he encamped on the sum- 
mit of that part of the mountain to the right of the road, where 
he remained till he was attacked on the 7th. 

" When the troops from the different counties met at the head of 
the Catawba river, the commanding officers met, and finding that 
they were all of equal grade, and no general officer to command, 



BATTLE OF KING S MOUNTAIN. 267 

it was decided that Col, Charles McDowell should go to head- 
quarters, supposed to be between Charlotte and Salisbury, to ob- 
tain General Sumner or General Davidson to take the command. 
In the meantime, it was agreed that Col. William Campbell, who 
had the largest regiment, should take the command until the arri- 
val of a general officer, who was to act according to the advice 
of the colonels commanding, and that Major McDowell should 
take the command of the Burke and Rutherford regiment until 
the return of Col. McDowell. 

" Shortly after these measures were adopted, intelhgence was 
received that Colonel Ferguson had left Gilbertstown, and it was 
decided that they would march after him, by that place ; and on 
their way they received evidence that it was his design to evade an 
engagement with them. On the evening of the 6th of October, the 
colonels in council unanimously resolved, that they would select 
all the men and horses fit for service, and immediately pursue Fer- 
guson until they should overtake him, leaving such as were not 
able to go to come after them as fast as they could. The next 
morning the selection was made, and 910 men, including officers, 
were marched before, leaving the others to follow. They came to 
the Cowpens, where Ferguson had camped on the night of the 
4th, and there met Colonel Williams, of South Carolina, with near 
400 men, and about 60 from Lincoln county, who had joined them 
on their march under Colonel Hambrite and Major Chronicle. 
After drawing rations of beef, the whole proceeded on a little 
before sunset, taking Ferguson's trail towards Dear's Ferry, on 
Broad River. Night coming on, and being very dark, their pilot 
got out of the right way, and for some time they were lost ; but 
before daylight they reached near to the ferry, and by directions of 
the officers, the pilot led them to the Cherokee ford, about a mile 
and a half below, as it was not known but the enemy might be in 
possession of the eastern bank of the river. It was on the morning 
of the 7th, before sunrise, when they crossed the river, and marched 
about two miles to the place where Ferguson had encamped on 
the night of the 5th. There they halted a short time, and took 
such breakfast as their wallets and saddlebags would afford. The 
day was showery, and they were obliged to use their blankets and 
great coats to protect their arms from wet. They passed on a 
dozen of miles without seeing any person ; although they met a 
lad in an old field, by the name of Fonderin, about twelve or four- 
teen years of age, who had a brother and other relations in 
Ferguson's camp, and who was directly from it, within less than 



268 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

three miles. A halt was ordered, and the colonels met in consult- 
ation. Several persons knew the ground well on which the enemy- 
was encamped, agreeably to the information given by the boy, of 
their position. The plan of battle was immediately settled ; that 
the forces should be nearly equally divided, 'and one half would 
take to the right, cross over and occupy the southeast side of the 
mountain, and that the other should advance to the northwest side, 
and that each division should move forward until they formed a 
junction, when all should face to the front, and press upon the 
enemy up the sides of the mountain. Orders were given to pre- 
pare for battle by laying aside every incumbrance, examining into 
their arms, and guarding against alarms. The orders Were 
speedily obeyed, and they moved forward over King's Creek and 
up a branch and ravine, and between two rocky knobs ; which 
when they had passed, the top lof the mountain and the enemy's 
camp upon it were in full view, about one hundred poles in front." 
" The enemy's camp was to the right of the road, seventy or 
eighty poles in length, and on the summit of the mountain, which 
at this place runs nearly northeast and southwest (the shadow of 
, the timber at half past one P.M. ranges with it). The troops 
were led on in the following order : to the right, Major Winston, 
Colonel Sevier, Colonel Campbell, Colonel Shelby, and Major 
McDowell; to the left, Colonel Hambrite, Colonel Cleaveland, 
and Colonel Williams, of South Carolina. Each division moved 
off steadily to the place assigned them, in the order of battle. 
Some of the regiments suffered much under the galling fire of 
the enemy, before they were in a position to engage in the action. 
Some complaints began to be uttered, that " it loould never do to 
he shot down without returning the fire ;' Colonel Shelby replied, 
^ press on to your places, and then ■gour fire will not he lost.' 
The men, led by Shelby and M'Dowell, were soon closely en- 
gaged, and the contest from the first was very severe. Williams 
and Cleaveland were soon in their places, and with the utmost 
energy engaged the foe. Ferguson, finding that end of his line 
giving way, ordered forward his regulars and riflemen, with bayo- 
nets, and made a furious charge upon Shelby and M'Dowell, 
charging down the mountain some two hundred yards. A united 
and destructive fire soon compelled him to order his party back to 
the top of the mountain. To ward off the dpadly attack from 
Colonel Williams, Ferguson again charged with fury down the 
mountain. When Shelby's men saw this, they raised the cry, 
' Come on, men, the enemy is retreating !' They rallied, and by 



BATTLE OF KING S MOUNTAIN. 2G9 

the time Ferguson returned from the charge against the South 
Carohnians, renewed their fire with great resokition. Ferguson 
again charged upon Shelby, but not so far as before ; Colonel 
Wilhams's men in turn called out, ' the enemy is retreating, come 
on, men !' 

" At this stage of the action, Hambrite and Winston had met, 
and a brisk fire was poured upon Ferguson's men, all round the 
mountain. As he would advance towards Campbell, Sevier, 
Winston, and Hambrite, he was pursued by Shelby, M'Dowell, 
Williams, and Cleaveland. When he would turn his face against 
the latter, the former would press on in pursuit. Thus he strug- 
gled on, making charges and retreats, but his left was rapidly 
losing ground. His men were rapidly falling before the skilful 
aim and unbending courage of the whigs. Even after being 
wounded, he fought on with courage. He made every effort that 
could be done by a brave and skilful ofiScer, according to his 
position. At length he was shot dead, and his whole command 
driven up into a group of sixty yards in length, and not forty in 
width. 

" The British officer, Capt. Dupeister, who took the command, 
ordered a white flag to be raised in token of surrender, hut the 
bearer was instantly shot down. He soon had another raised, and 
called out for quarter. Col. Shelby demanded, if they surrendered, 
wdiy they did not throw down their arms. It was instantly done. 
But still the firing was continued, until Shelby and Sevier went 
inside the lines and ordered the men to cease. Some who kept at 
it would call out, ' Give them Buford's play,' alluding to Colonel 
Buford's defeat by Tarleton, where no quarter was given. A 
guard was placed over the prisoners, and all remained on the moun- 
tain during that night." 

" The party which led the left wing, under Colonel Hambrite, 
suffered very much, having to pass very difficult ground to reach 
their place of destination, and within eighty rods of the enemy's 
marksmen. Colonel Hambrite was wounded, and Major Chronicle 
was killed. Colonel Williams, of South Carolina, a brave and 
efficient officer, was also killed. The loss of the whigs was not 
exactly ascertained, but believed to be about thirty killed and fifty 
wounded. The enemy had about one hundred and fifty killed, and 
all the rest taken prisoners." 

'.' On the morning of the 8th a court-martial was held, and 
several of the pxiioncrs, who were found guilty of munlcr and 



270 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Other high crimes, were sentenced to be hanged. About twenty 
were executed." 

From this paper of Gen. Graham it appears that the first moving 
of the expedition was in North Carolina. Virginia came to her 
aid, and the gallant South Carolina took her share. The gallant 
Williams has no monument. The friends of Major Chronicle and 
a few others erected a monument where they were buried, near the 
battle-ground. On the east side Is this inscription, viz. : 

Sacred to the memory of Major William Chronicle 

and Captain Mattocks, William Robb, and John Boyd : — 

who were killed at this place on the 7th of October, 1780, 

fighting in defence of America. 

On the west side — 

Col. Ferguson, an officer of 

his Britannic Majesty, was 

defeated and killed at this place, 

on the 7th of October, 17S0. 

Colonel Williams was an elder in the Presbyterian church, much 
beloved as a man and an officer. His fellow-citizens preferred 
marching under him, when the time for marching came. The last 
meeting, it is said, with his friends, was at the church, in whicli he 
used to meet them in solemn worship, and at a communion season. 
Shelby became noted in Kentucky, was made Governor, and was, 
m the latter part of his life, religious, and an elder of the church. 
The McDowells held through life the highest stand with their fel- 
low-citizens. Winston, Hambrite, Sevier, and Cleaveland, were 
true patriots. Campbell was, after this, in the battle of Guilford, 
and afterwards the commander of the militia in the eastern section of 
Virginia ; and while engaged with his duties was seized with a 
fever, which proved mortal. He was buried at Rocky Mills, in 
Hanover county. A native of Augusta county, he removed early 
to Washington county, — a bold, active man, and extremely popular 
with the militia, as is seen in the fact that on a short notice he 
rallied 400 men of his county to march with him in this expedition, 
— an untiring enemy of the tories, who hated him as much as he 
loved his country. After an interval of forty years, his remains, 
in a surprising state of preservation, were removed to Washington 
county, to repose with his family. 

It is said that Colonel Ferguson, when he encamped on King's 
Mountain, after so many days of retreat before the gathering mili- 
tia, exclaimed to his men, " Here is a place God Almighty cannot 



BATTLE OF KING S MOUNTAIN. 271 

drive us from." He never left the mountain ; the next day lie fell 
in battle. 

By courtesy, Colonel Campbell, as having the largest force, was 
considered the leading officer ; during the action he rode down two 
horses, i Early in the action, his black, called Bald Face, proving 
unruly, he exchanged him for a horse belonging to a Mr. Camp- 
bell, of his corps. In the heat of the battle he was seen on foot 
at the head of his men, with his coat off, and his shirt-collar open. 
Some two hundred yards down the mountain was Bald Face, 
mounted by the Colonel's servant, a tall, well-proportioned mulatto, 
who said, '* he had come up to see what his master and the rest 
were doing." 

Ex-Senator Preston, of South Carolina, a grandson of Colonel 
Campbell, in his youth, stopped at a tavern in South Carolina, near 
the North Carolina line, and in sight of King's Mountain ; and 
while breakfast was preparing, observed that the landlady frequently 
turned to look at him. While eating, she asked him his name, and 
observed, by way of apology, that he was very like the man she 
most dreaded on earth. " And who is that ?" said Preston. 
" Colonel Campbell," said the woman, "that hung my husband 
at King's Mountain." 

Besides Shelby, who became religious before his death, and 
Williams, who was so much beloved as elder, it is the tradition 
that two of the other officers were elders in the Presbyterian 
church ; but which of them is not handed down distinctly. They 
were republicans on principle, and fought and bled for their prin- 
ciples. The whole military force that were engaged in this expe- 
dition were from Presbyterian settlements, and were in all proba- 
bility all of them of Scotch and Scotch-Irish origin. 

Though the scene of this battle is in South Carolina, the chief 
honor belongs to North Carolina, shared most nobly with South 
Carolina and Virginia. The officers and men concerned in the 
planning and executing the enterprise were all of the same race, 
and were gatiiered from what now forms four States. " Mountain- 
jiien,^'' and '^beyond the mountains,''^ mean Tennessee and Kentucky, 
then forming western counties of North Carolina and Virginia. 



272 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE BATTLE AT GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 

It is a remarkable circumstance that the battle of Guilford Court- 
house, March 15th, 1781, which drove the invading army of Corn- 
wallis from North Carolina, was fought within about a day's march 
of the scene of the first bloodshed for American Independence, made 
on the Alamance, some ten years before. May 1771, the one in the 
bounds of Buffalo congregation, and the other on the skirts of Ala- 
mance, the two congregations forming the pastoral charge of Dr. 
David Caldwell. 

The pursuit of Greene by Cornwallis across the State, from the 
time the Catawba was crossed in January, 1781, and Davidson 
slain, was as rapid as the well disciplined army of English, having 
destroyed their baggage, could make it, under the direction of brave 
and skilful officers, through a country for the most part hostile to 
his majesty's forces, with no magazines, or provisions collected for 
their supply, and the sources of refreshment along the track of pur- 
suit mostly consumed by the retreating American army. Perhaps 
in the whole course of the war, generalship and bravery, in pursuit 
and retreat, were never better exhibited, than in the efforts "of his 
lordship to bring Greene to battle before he could cross the Dan, 
and the success of Greene to elude all his lordship's efforts. It is 
said that the advance guards of one and the rear guard of the 
other wei-e often within musket-shot without discharging a gun. 
The great object, a general battle, could not be gained by the death 
or wounds of a few of Greene's rear, and the officers of Cornwallis 
refrained from firing on those whom they could not intercept. 

At nine o'clock at night, on the 14th of February, the main 
army having crossed the day before, Lee's legion took the boats 
that had carried over the forces under Colonel Otho Williams, at 
Boyd's Ferry ; Lieutenant Colonel Carrington, the quartermaster- 
general, entering the last boat. Had it been daylight, the British 
forces might have seen the departure, so close was the advance 
guard. Here the pursuit ended. 

Cornwallis chose Hillsborough for his head-quarters. While a 
detachment of his army lay at the Red House, they occupied the 
church of Hugh McAden, the first located missionary in North 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 273 

Carolina, and remembering that those who sang " David's Psahns 
in Metre," in South Carolina, were rebels against the king, and 
their ministers fomenters of rebellion, they compjimented McAden, 
a short time in his grave, and his congregation also, by burning his 
library and papers. Fortunately his early journal escaped the 
flames. 

His lordship tarried about ten days in Hillsborough. In that time 
Greene, reinforced by militia and volunteers from Virginia, had re- 
crossed the Dan, and commenced that harassing warfare that drew 
Cornwallis from his head-quarters, and brought on the decisive bat- 
tle. Between the ISth and 23d those marches and counter-marches 
took place by forces under command of Greene's officers, that led to 
the destruction of the regiment of tories under Colonel Pyles, 
marching to join the invaders, about midway between Hillsborough 
and Greensborough, and to the entanglement of Tarleton, from 
which he was rescued only by the watchfulness of his general, who 
sent three messengers in haste after him, in one night, to speed his 
return, and just saved him from the forces that were preparing to 
cut him off before daylight. 

On the 26th of February Cornwallis left Hillsborough, and mov- 
ing south encamped on the fertile Alamance, and moved on, quar- 
tering upon the " rebels." On the 6th of March he made a move 
to entrap that remarkable officer. Colonel Jtho Williams of Mary- 
land ; and in the manoeuvres that followed, a circumstance occurred 
that gave a British officer great eclat in the American camp. 
Above thirty rifle shots, deliberately aimed, were made by King's 
mountain riflemen, at Wetzell's Mills on Reedy Fork, upon a Bri- 
tish officer that was seen slowly approaching the bank of the stream, 
and carefully fording the current on a beautiful black horse, at the 
time apparently busied with the movements of a detachment of sol- 
diers, all within view, and in fair rifle shot. To the amazement of 
all, without harm, or discovering the least sensation of alarm, he 
crossed the stream and disappeared. Upon inquiring of some pri- 
soners what officer in the manoeuvres and skirmishes rode a black 
horse, the name of the gallant, gentlemanly and skilful Colonel 
Webster was given in reply. 

Cornwallis removed his army into the bounds of Buffalo congre- 
gation, and encamped on the plantation of William Rankin. Re- 
maining there till all the provisions on the plantation and in the 
neighborhood were consumed, and the plunder secured, the army 
was marched into the Alamance congregation, and encamped on the 
plantation of Ralph Gorrel, Esq., who, like Mr. Rankin, was a man of 



274 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

influence and wealth, and a true whig. Turning the family out of 
doors, consuming, plundering, and destroying, with the thoughtless 
recklessness of invading soldiers, leaving the neighborhood a scene 
of desolation, after an abode of two days, the army was marched on 
Sabbath, March 11th, to the premises of Dr. Caldwell. Mrs. Cald- 
well and the children retired to the smoke-house, and there passed 
a day without provision and without a bed. The officers that occu- 
pied the house insulted her distress with profane language and 
cruel treatment, until the principal physician, understanding her 
condition, interposed, and procured for her a bed and a few cooking 
utensils, and some provisions. The head-quarters of his lordship 
was at Mr. McCuistin's on the great road from the court-house to 
Fayetteville ; but the army was encamped mainly on Dr. Cald- 
well's plantation, the line extending entirely across it, and the 
wings occupying part of two of his neighbor's, one on each side ; 
" and the marks of it are still visible." Mr. Caruthers says — 
" every panel of fence on the premises was burned ; every particle 
of provisions consumed or carried away; every living thing was 
destroyed except one old goose ; and nearly every square rod of 
ground was penetrated with their iron ramrods, in search of hidden 
treasure." 

Before leaving the place, the library and papers of Dr. Caldwell 
were destroyed by fire. This was done by the command of the offi- 
cers. The large oven in the yard was used for the purpose. A fire 
being kindled, armful after armful of the books and papers was, by 
the servants, committed to the flames, till the destruction was com- 
plete. The Dr. was at this time in the camp of Greene, which, on 
Monday, the 12th, was about five miles from High Rock ; on Tues- 
day, eight miles farther, on Ready Fort, and on Wednesday at the 
Court House. A price had been set by his lordship on the Dr.'s 
head : <£200 to any one who should bring him in prisoner. As if 
to revenge his absence from home on his library and papers, the 
order was given for their destruction. Not even the family Bible 
was spared. The fatal Psalms in metre probably ensured its de- 
struction. The loss of the manuscripts was irreparable ; the library 
in the course of time was partially replaced. 

After remaining two days, the army left the neighborhood a scene 
of desolation and distress, and removed to the Quaker settlement on 
Deep River. About this time occurred the massacre of the bugler 
of Lee's legion, while crying for quarter, but a little more atrocious 
than the slaughters and plunderings which were enacted throughout 
Dr Caldwell's congregations. 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 275 

By Greene's near approach on Wednesday, the 14th of March, it 
was understood throughout the country, and in the British cainp, 
that the American general, who had so long shunned an engage- 
ment, would no longer decline a battle. Lee's legion led on the 
attack. The king's forces approached the chosen battle-ground in 
beautiful mihtary order and in high spirits. By the court-house 
lay Greene with his regulars ; in front, to the south, were open fields 
of a rolling surface with some ravines, through which passed the 
great Salisbury road, on the right and left of which were woods ; 
about a rifle shot in front, beyond these fields, were woods of about 
the same depth ; in these, on the right and left of the road, were sta- 
tioned the Virginia volunteers and militia, some of them excellent 
marksmen with the rifle, in a hollow that ran nearly at right angles 
to the road, so low that the militia would be unseen by the enemy's 
line till within gun-shot ; in front of the woods on the south, behind 
a rail-fence enclosing extended open fields, lay the North Carolina 
forces, militia and volunteers, some excellent riflemen. Across these 
open fields, the army of Cornwallis, in battle array, advanced on 
each side of the road in front of the Carolina forces concealed by 
the fence and flanked on their left by Campbell's riflemen and Lee's 
legion, and their right by Lynch's rifle corps and Washington's 
cavalry. 

The orders to the first line were, to fire twice, from behind the 
fence, upon the enemy on their near approach, and then to retire ; 
to the second line, to give the advancing enemy such reception as 
circumstances required ; and in case of a retreat, all were to rally in 
the rear of the regulars. 

The British forces could be seen for a mile or more, as they defiled 
into the open fields. The field-pieces of Greene stationed in the road 
under Captain Singleton, just in front of the front line, played upon 
the advancing enemy, and were briskly answered by that of the 
enemy under Lieut. McLeod. As the British forces advanced, Sin- 
gleton retreated according to orders to the court-house. The first 
fire, from the first line, behind the fence, was unexpected and very 
destructive. The following extract of a letter from Dugald Stewart, 
a captain in the army of Cornwallis, to his relative Donald Stewart 
of Guilford county, North Carolina, dated Ballachelish, Argyleshire, 
Scotland, Oct. 25, 1825, is taken from Mr. Caruthers. 

" The regiment to which I belonged, the 71st or Frazier's High- 
landers, was drawn up on the left of the British line along with 
the 23d, or Welsh Fusileers, with some other regiments. In the 



276 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

advance we received a very deadly fire from the Irish line of the 
American army, composed of their marksmen lying on the ground 
behind a rail-fence. One half of the Highlanders dropt on that 
spot. There ought to be a pretty large tumulus where our men 
were buried." This " Irish line" and these " marksmen" in the 
front line were probably the company of volunteers under Captain 
John Forbes from the Alamance, made up of his friends and neigh- 
bors, the Allisons, the Kens, the Wileys, the Paisleys and others, 
who had come to take part in the battle. Captain Forbes fired the 
first gun ; his men saw a British officer fall ; they gave their " deadly 
fire," and repeated it, and then retreated. Forbes in the retreat 
received a mortal wound. William Paisley, the father of the Rev. 
Samuel Paisley, was also wounded, but not mortally. Had the whole 
front line behaved as gallantly, the fortune of the day would have 
been still more disastrous to the invaders. But there were some 
who thought " discretion the better part of valor" — " that he that 
fights and runs away, may live to fight another day." The British 
line resumed its march, inclining to the left in front of the regulars 
under Greene, with whom the sharpest contest was anticipated. 
Encountering the second line of militia and volunteers, the enemy 
met another unexpected reception from the Virginia marksmen. 
The right of that line under General Lawson wheeled round upon 
their left, and then retreated in confusion. Col. Webster, who led 
the British left, then advanced upon the regulars under Col. Gunby. 
The left of the second line of militia and volunteers was encountered 
by the British right under General Leslie, and maintained their 
ground, alternately advancing upon the enemy and then retreating 
to their original position, till the retreat of the regulars under Greene. 
In a short diary kept by a Virginia rifleman who stood on the left 
of the second line, who said he discharged his rifle fourteen times 
that afternoon, Samuel Houston, afterwards so long the pastor of the 
Highbridge congregation, Rockbridge county, Virginia, — he says 
that, before the battle, he retired and committed himself to the mer- 
ciful providence of God ; and then, " standing in readiness, 

we heard the pickets fire. Shortly, the English fired a cannon, 
which was answered, and so on alternately till the small-armed 
troops came nigh, and then close firing began near the centre but 
rather towards the right, and soon spread along the line. Our 
Brigade-Major, Mr. Williams, fled. Presently came two men to us 
and informed us the British fled. Soon the enemy appeared to us. 
We fired on their flank, and shot down many of them. At which 
time Captain Telford was killed. We pursued them about forty 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 277 

poles, to the top of a hill, when they stood, and we retreated from 
them back to where we formed ; — then we repulsed them again ; 
and they a second time made us retreat back to our first ground, 
when we were deceived by a regiment of Hessians, whom we took 
for our own, and cried out to them to see if they were our friends, 
and shouted aloud Liberty, Liberty, and advanced up, till they let 
off some guns ; then we fired sharply on them and made them re- 
treat a little, but presently their light -horse came on us, and not 
being defended by our light-horse, nor reinforced, though firing 
had long ceased in all other parts, we were obliged to run, and 
many were sore chased and some cut down. We lost our Major 
and Captain then. We all scattered ; and some of our party, and 
Campbell's, and Moffitt's, collected together, and with Campbell and 
Moffitt and Major Pooge, we marched to head-quarters." 

It is stated by Johnson, that General Stevens placed in the rear of 
the left of this second line some good marksmen, with orders to 
shoot down any of his men that deserted the ranks. It is also well 
known that this part of the line kept its position till Greene ordered 
a general retreat. 

Let us go to the fiercest part of the battle. The court-house is 
gone ; the village is wasted to a house ; the actors in that eventful 
strife are all passed away ; — but the face of the country is un- 
changed ; the open fields and the woods retain the relative posi- 
tion of sixty years since. Taking your stand on this highest ground, 
where the court-house stood, you may look over the whole battle- 
field of the sharpest contest. Directly in front, to the south, is the 
open rolling field across which the gallant Webster led his regi- 
ment, as boldly as if his life was charmed against powder and lead, 
on to attack the first Maryland regiment, renowned for their con- 
duct at the Cowpens. The gallant colonel's regiment recoiled at the 
first deadly fire, and gave way before the advance of the Maryland- 
ers. Grievously wounded, Webster rallied his men on the skirts of 
the wood in front of you, and in a little time was ready to re-enter 
the battle. From the Salisbury road, Leslie sends down two regi- 
ments to advance upon the second Maryland regiment, which be- 
haved in an unsoldierlike manner, and did nothing worthy of their 
name. O'Harra hastened on with two regiments to the flank of 
Howard regaining his line, and made an attack on the second Ma- 
ryland regiment, which gave way and fled. Just then, Colonel 
Washington rapidly passed by the head of Leslie's regiment, leaped 
a ravine with his corps unseen, and made a terrible onset upon the 
Queen's Guards, exulting in their victory over the second regiment. 



278 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The carnage was dreadful. At this time it was, as Lieutenant 
Holcomb related to Dr. Jones of Nottaway, that the noted Francisco 
performed a deed of blood without a parallel. In that short ren- 
counter, he cut down eleven men with his brawny arm and terrible 
broadsword. One of the guards thrust his bayonet, and in spite of 
the parrying of Francisco's sword, pinned his leg to the horse. 
Francisco forbore to strike, but assisted him to extricate his bay- 
onet. As the soldier turned and fled, he made a furious blow with 
his sword, and cleft the poor fellow's head down to his shoulders. 
The force of the blow, added to the soldier's speed, sent him on a 
number of steps, with his cleft head hanging upon each shoulder, 
before he fell. The astonished beholders shouted, " Did you ever 
see the like 1" Howard, with the 1st, came rushing on them, 
and the contest was renewed in a most desperate manner about mid- 
way between the court-house and the woods in front. This Avas 
the crisis of the battle. Cornw^allis came down from his post, where 
the Salisbury road enters the wood, to the hollow, to see the con- 
dition of the battle, and under the cover of the smoke, rode up to 
that old oak just in the skirts of the fiery contest. Washington, 
who had drawn off his troops, was hovering round to watch his op- 
portunity for another onset, and approached that same oak unper- 
ceived by his lordship ; stopping to beckon on his men to move 
and intercept the officer, then imknown to him, he happened to 
strike his unlaced helmet from his head. On recovering it, he per- 
ceived the white horse that carried the officer on the full gallop 
towards the artillery posted on the rising ground, where the road 
emerges from the woods. His lordship gave orders to Lieutenant 
McLeod to charge with grape-shot, and fire in upon the contending 
mass of men. O'Harra, who had been carried wounded to that po- 
sition, heard the fatal orders, and begged the commander to spare 
his fine troops. His lordship repeated the order sternly, and stood 
by the devouring cannon till the regiments who were yielding 
ground to the Maryland forces rallied, and bravely, or rather des- 
perately, renewed the contest. This rally decided the fate of the 
day. Greene drew off his forces. 

At the time Cornwallis was in danger of being taken by Washing- 
ton, Greene, also, going down to survey the battle and learn the con- 
dition of his forces, under cover of the smoke, approached within a 
few steps of a large force of the enemy ; discovering his perilous 
condition, he slowly retreated and escaped without observation. In 
a letter to his lady, the day after the battle, he says — " I had not the 
honor of being wounded, but was very near being taken, having 



BATTLE OF GUILFORD COURT-HOUSE. 279 

rode in the heat of the action, full tilt, directly into the midst of the 
enemy ; but by Col. Harris calling to me and advertising me of my 
situation I had, just time to escape." 

The consequences of this battle are well known — the retreat of 
Cornwallis, and the delivery of Carolina. 

During this eventful Thursday, all the active men in Dr. Caldwell's 
congregation were in some w^ay engaged with the army ; and we 
are told by Mr. Caruthers that there were two collections of females, 
one in Buffalo, and the other in Alamance, engaged in most earnest 
prayer for their families and their country; many others sought the 
divine aid in solitary places. One pious lady sent her son, often, 
during the afternoon, to the summit of a little hill near which she 
spent much time in prayer, to listen and bring her word which way 
the firing came, from the southward or the northward. When he 
returned and said it was going northward — " Then," exclaimed she, 
" all is lost, Greene is defeated." But all was not lost ; the God that 
hears prayer remembered his people. 

The invaders left the ground the next day, and all the country 
around w^ere busy in burying the dead and carrying off their woun- 
ded, many of whom lay the cold wet night after the battle exposed 
upon the ground. Capt. Forbis lay about thirty hours before he 
was discovered by his friends. He was then found by an old lady, 
who was searching the woods for a relative He survived a short 
time after being carried to his house. He declared before his death, 
that on the day after the battle a tory of his acquaintance passed 
by him and recognized him, and instead of giving him a little 
water, for which he craved, to quench his raging thurst, kicked him 
and cursed him as a rebel. After the death of Forbis, that man was 
found suspended on a tree before his own door. 

The strength of the tories had been greatly increased by the 
presence of the British forces, and the policy of Cornwallis. The 
feuds and bloodshed in the neighborhood were indescribable for their 
vexations, and often for their atrocities. For a short time after the 
battle these were more bitter. The entire departure of the invaders 
permitted the country to resume its quiet, and pursue their occupa- 
tions in comparative peacefulness. 

The battle at the court-house abounded in acts of heroism and 
also of cowardice. In that contest, when the grape shot poured upon 
the contending forces, it is said some of the British officers fell as if 
dead, and were plundered, but after the battle were not reported 
either among the wounded or missing. 

The gallant Webster, that escaped so remarkably at Wetzell's 



280 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mills, and rallied his broken forces so nobly and came back into 
the action, died of the wounds received in his charge upon the 
Maryland regiment. He accompanied the retreatmg army as far as 
Bladen count}^, and with the sympathy of his enemies, as well as the 
kinof's forces, was consigned to his grave, near Elizabeth, the county 
seat. There was no fear his grave would be profaned. When 
General Philips died at Petersbury, Virginia, some time after, his 
grave was secreted through fear of the irritated country, lest his 
cruelties should be visited on his ashes. 

The Virginia militia and volunteers, that maintained their ground 
so bravely and received so much applause for their soldierlike con- 
duct, were from Augusta and Rockbridge counties, and almost to a 
man the descendants of Scotch-Irish. Some of the congregation of 
the noted Graham were there ; and a company from the congrega- 
tion of the silver-tongued Waddel, the Blind Preacher of Mr. Wirt, 
heard a farewell address from him, while under arms ready to march. 
Many that marched returned no more ; and others bore the marks 
of deep gashes from the light-horse broadswords the remainder 
of their days. The last of these men were lately carried to their 
graves. 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 281 



CHAPTER XXn. 

MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THE CAROLINAS, FROM 1788 TO 
1801 INCLUSIVE. 

When it was finally determined, in May, 1788, by the Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia, to constitute a General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church, in the United Slates of America, as a 
preliminary step some new Synods were first set off, of which the 
Synod of the Carolinas was one ; by the following resolutions the 
way was open for its meeting : — " Resolved, that the Synod of 
the Carolinas meet on the first Wednesday of November next, at 
eleven p'clock, A.M., at Centre church, in Rowan county, and 
that Mr. Pattillo, or, in his absence, the senior minister present, 
open the Synod with a sermon, and preside till a moderator be 
chosen." The Presbyteries that, united, formed the Synod, were 
Orange, in North Carolina, South Carolina, in the State of the 
same name, and Abingdon, principally in Tennessee. 

The members of Orange Presbytery were Rev. Messrs. Henr}' 
Pattillo, David Caldwell, Samuel E. McCorkle, James Hall, Ro- 
bert Archibald, James McRee, Jacob Lake, Daniel Thatcher, 
David Barr, John Beck, in all ten. Those of South Carolina, 
James "Edmonds, John Harris, Joseph Alexander, John Simpson, 
Thomas Reese, Thomas H. McCaule, James Templeton, Fran- 
cis Cummins, Robert Finley, Robert Hall, Robert Mecklin ; in 
all eleven. Of Abingdon Presbytery, Charles Cummins, Heze- 
kiah Balch, John Cossan, Samuel Houston, Samuel Carrick, 
James Balch, in all seven. Total in the Synod, twenty-eight. 

From the records of the twenty-five sessions which this Synod 
held, previously to its division in 1813, such extraets will be made 
as are of abiding interest, or necessary to give a succinct account 
of the doings of a pious and active body of men, whose names 
and doings should not be forgotten. In some cases a brief state- 
ment will be made, embracing the spirit of the records for tlie 
sake of brevity ; in others the very Vords will be given, which 
will be indicated by the common quotation marks. The exact 
words will be given whenever they appear to be of importance . 



282 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

" SESSION I. 

" Centre Church, State of North Carolina, \ 
'November 5th, 1788. i 

" The Synod of the Carohnas met according to the appointment 
of the late Synod of New York ard Philadelphia, convened in 
May, 1788. Members present were, of the Presbytery of Orange, 
the Rev. David Caldwell, Samuel E. McCorkle, James Hall, 
Robert Archibald, James McRee, and Jacob Lake, ministers ; 
with elders, Messrs. Wm. Anderson, McNeely, Harris, King, 
Robert Irwin, and John Dickey. 

" Of the Presbytery of South Carolina, the Rev. James Temple- 
ton, Francis Cummins, Robert Hall, ministers ; with elders, 
Messrs. Martin and Hamilton. 

" Of the Presbytery of Abingdon, the Rev. Samuel Houston. 
One new member, it appears, had been added to the Presbytery of 
South Carolina, John Newton, and one had died, Robert Mecklin. 
The Synod was opened by the Rev. David Caldwell being the 
senior member present, after which Synod was constituted with 
prayer. The Rev. David Caldwell was chosen moderator, and 
Rev. James McRee and Robert Hall clerks." 

The Committee of Overtures read the following : — " That the 
committee think it highly necessary that Synod should inquire 
respecting a certain report injurious to the credit of the late Synod 
of New York and Philadelphia, namely, that said Synod had cast 
off the larger catechism, and that with difficulty the shorter was 
retained." The Synod, in consequence of examining into the 
above report, and having received what they considered as authentic 
testimony to the contrary, concluded the report to be totally false . 
" Resolved, that it be enjoined on the several members of Synod, 
to take an account, when it may appear that the above false and 
scandalous report is injurious to the credit of religion, and call 
those who propagated it before their respective jurisdiction, and if 
found guilty without being able to give their author, that they be 
treated according to the demerit of their crime. 

" Synod adjourned to meet at Poplar Tent, on the first Wednes- 
day in September next. Concluded with prayer." 

" SESSION II. 

" Poplar Tent, State of North Carolina, > 
September 2d, 1789. > 
" The Synod met according to adjournment, and was opened by 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD, 283 

the Rev. David CakWell, w^ith a sermon from Psalms ii., 6." Two 
members were reported as added to the Presbytery of South Caro- 
Ima, Robert McCullock and Wilham C. Davis, and one dismiss- 
ed, Robert Finley. It appeared that the Presbytery of Orange 
had received the Rev. David Kerr, from the Presbytery of Tem- 
ple Patrick, in Ireland, as a member in good standing ; the Synod 
proceeded to consider his credentials and collateral testimony, ap- 
proved of the proceeding and invited him to a seat. 

The report about the larger catechism being cast off" was further 
considered, and it appearing the Rev. Robert Finley, lately dis- 
missed from the Presbytery of South Carolina, was implicated in 
that report. Synod ordered a letter to be written to him, and ano- 
ther to the Presbytery of which he is a member. 

" Overtures, — Whether persons who practise dancing, revel- 
ling, horse-racing, and card-playing, are to be admitted to sealing 
ordinances ? Synod, taking into consideration these and other 
things of a similar tendency. Resolved, that they are wrong ; and 
the practisers of them ought not to be admitted to sealing ordi 
nances, until they be dealt with by their spiritual rulers in such 
manner as to them may appear most for the glory of God, their 
own good, and the good of the church." 

" Overture, — Are persons who habitually neglect to attend 
public worship, on fast or thanksgiving days, admissible to seal- 
ing ordinances ? Synod unanimously agree that such conduct is 
inconsistent with the Christian character ; a disrespect paid to the 
call of God in his providences, and the authority of the church ; 
offensive to the sober-minded, and in point of example injurious 
to others." 

The Synod then proceeded to order all its members to read the 
proceedings of Synod on the overtures in all their churches, and 
in the vacancies. 

On a reference from the Synod of South Carolina, after delibe- 
ration. Synod " Judged, that the marriage of .Tohn Latham, of 
Waxhaw, with his deceased wife's sister's daughter, is criminal 
and highly offensive ; and that all such marriages are truly de- 
testable, and ought to be strenuously discountenanced ; and that 
said Latham, in his present standing, is by no means admissible 
to the sealing ordinances of the church." This is referred to in 
the tliirteenth session. 



284 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

" SESSION III. 

''Bethany, Oct. 6 {Wednesday), 1790. 

" Synod met agreeably to adjournment, and was opened with a 
sermon preached by the Rev. Hem-y Pattillo (the moderator being 
absent), from Acts xxvi., 18." 

Mr. Pattillo was chosen moderator, Mr. John Springer was 
reported as having been added to the Presbytery of South Caro- 
lina, and Mr. Houston as having been dismissed from Abingdon. 
The Synod examined and approved the proceedings of Orange 
Presbytery, in receiving the Rev. Wm. Moore from tlie Presby- 
tery of Hanover. (The proceedings had been regular, but Synod 
took the oversight of receiving members from other bodies.) 

'• Overtured, That Dr. Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Reli- 
gion, and his ten sermons on Regeneration, be printed by con- 
tributions raised by the members of Synod. 

" Ordered, that the Rev. James M'Ree request the printers in 
Fayetteville to publish in their Gazette the terms on which they 
will print, bind, and letter the above books. 

" Ordered, that each Presbytery make provisions that they be 
represented in the General Assembly. 

" The Synod recommended that the last Wednesday in next 
month be observed as a day of public thanksgiving to God, as an 
acknowledgment of his goodness in the plentiful crops of the 
present year." 

SESSION IV. 

Thyatira, Oct. 5th {Wednesday), 1791. 

In the absence of the moderator, the Rev. Joseph Alexander 
opened the Synod, with a sermon from John ix., 35, and was 
chosen moderator. South Carolina Presbytery reported one ad- 
ded, James Stephenson. 

The Synod took action on the subject of reprinting Doddridge's 
Rise and Progress, and his ten sermons on Regeneration, and 
appointed a member of each Presbytery to see to it that pro- 
posals were circulated to obtain subscriptions in all the congrega- 
tions ; and if the numbers, as returned from the Spring meetings 
of Presbyteries, amounted to fifteen hundred, the committee of 
Synod was to forward a list to the printer, that the work be com- 
menced. 

The elders and congregation at Stony Creek having sent up for 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 285 

advice respecting the use of Dr. Watts's Hymns, in public wor- 
ship, it was resolved, " that the petitioners be referred to the 
General Assembly, as the Synod do not conceive that it lies with 
them to sanction any system of psalmody, other than such sys- 
tems as may be sanctioned by the General Assembly." 

The Committee of Overtures presented the following questions, 
" Are they who publicly profess a belief in the doctrine of the 
universal and actual salvation of the whole human race, or of 
the fallen angels, or both, through the mediation of Christ, to be 
admitted to the sealing ordinances of the gospel ? Wherefore, 
resolved, that although the Synod set themselves unanimously 
against the doctrine of universal salvation, as an article of be- 
lief, yet as the question involves some difficulty respecting ad- 
mission to sealing ordinances, the said question be sent up to the 
General Assembly for their decision. (See next session.) 

" The Committee of Overtures laid the following questions be- 
fore Synod for consideration : " Should church sessions require 
an assent to, and approbation of the Confession of Faith, and 
larger or shorter catechisms, previously to their admitting persons 
to sealing ordinances ?" On this subject, " Resolved, that the 
proceedings of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia 
General Assembly are sufficient to direct our members in that 
matter. 

" Resolved, that the following ministers and elders be a Stand- 
ing Commission of Synod, and particularly to take up and issue 
the affair of Mr. Cossan, if not issued by the Presbytery of Ab- 
ingdon, viz : the Rev. Samuel E. M'Corkle, moderator, James 
Hall, James Templeton, James M'Ree, Robert Hall, Wm. C. 
Davies, and Charles Cummins ; with elders, John Dickey, John 
M'Knitt Alexander, Adam Beard, William Cathey, William An- 
derson, Joseph Feemster, and John Nelson. The moderator's 
council to consist of one minister, besides himself, and one elder. 
Two ministers besides the moderator, and as many of the above 
elders as may be present, to constitute a quorum." 

(From this time, Commission of Synod was a regular appoint- 
ment, with few intermissions. Much important business was 
done by them, and their decision was final.) 

" On motion. Resolved, that it be enjoined on the several Pres- 
byteries to take as effectual measures as possible for collecting 
materials for the history of the Presbyterian churches in America, 
and that returns of the said materials be made to the General 
Assembly as early as possible." 



286 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

At this meeting the Sjmod took up the subject of domestic mis- 
sions, and resolved to send out four missionaries to act in the des- 
titute regions each side of the Alleghanies. The direction of 
missionaries to be in the commission of Synod during recess of 
Synod ; their support fixed at two hundred dollars annually. It 
was made the duty of the missionaries to ascertain wdio of the 
families they visited wished to receive the gospel from the Presby- 
terians, and make report ; they were also to make collections 
where they preached. The persons appointed were James Tem- 
pleton and Robert Hall, of South Carolina Presbytery ; and Robert 
Archibald, with the Licentiate John Bowman, of the Presbytery 
of Orange. Each was to labor for six months. 

The Presbytery of Orange reported at this meeting, that seven 
of their ministers had stated charges ; three temporary charges ; 
and one no charge ; two probationers, who have calls under con- 
sideration ; three who have accepted calls ; and six who have not 
calls ; and five candidates ; thirteen vacancies able to support seven 
pastors ; and eighteen not able to support one. The Presbytery 
of South Carolina reported as follows : ten ministers with stated 
charo-es ; three without any charge ; two licentiates ; and nine 
candidates ; thirteen vacancies able to support nine pastors ; twen- 
ty-nine not able to support one. The names of pastors arc not 
given annexed to their churches. 



''Bethesda, October ^tli {Wednesday), 1792. 
" Synod met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with a 
sermon from Matt. xi. 6, preached by the Rev. Joseph Alexander, 
the Moderator." " The Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, D.D., was 
chosen Moderator." The Presbytery of Orange reported three 
members added by ordination, William Hodges, James Wallis, and 
Samuel C. CaldAvell ; the two last mentioned were invited to seats. 
The question sent up to the last Assembly was taken up, and the 
following minute made : — " This Synod at their last sessions hav- 
intT sent on a question to the General Assembly respecting the 
admission or non-admission of those who profess their belief in 
the doctrine of Universal Redemption, have it in their power to 
refer the public in general, and the members of our church in par- 
ticular, to the decision of the General Assembly on that subject, 
which is as follows : — In General Assembly, May, 1792, a ques- 
tion from the Synod of the Carolinas was introduced througli tlic 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 2S7 

Committee of Bills and Overtures, which was as follows : ' Are 
those who publicly profess a belief in the doctrine of universal and 
actual salvation of the whole human race, or of the fallen angels, 
or both, through the mediation of Christ, to be admitted to the 
sealing ordinances of the gospel ?' The Assembly determined that 
such persons should not be admitted." 

It being ascertained that 800 subscribers could be obtained for 
Doddridge's Rise and Progress, &c., Dr. McCorkle and Rev. Jas. 
McRee were appointed agents to transact with the printer in behalf 
of Synod. (This scheme of benevolent improvement occupied 
the Synod for some years, as will be seen ; and finally failed, after 
a large amount of money had been expended.) 

By report made to Synod, it appears the commission of Synod 
had held two meetings to transact the missionary business which 
had been committed to them. The first, in October, 1791, at 
Thyatira church, in which they drew up rules and instruc- 
tions for the missionaries, and gave commissions to Rev. James 
Templeton, and Robert Hall, to act for four months each in the 
lower parts of South Carolina and Georgia, before the middle of 
the succeeding April ; and Rev. Robert Archibald for four 
months, and Mr. John Bowman, for three months, as above, in the 
lower parts of North Carolina. The 'only part of the very judi- 
cious rules and instructions they prepared for their missionaries, 
which requires attention, as differing from those now given, is that 
contained in the third regulation : " You are not to tarry longer 
than three weeks at the same time, in the bounds of twenty miles, 
except peculiar circumstances may appear to make it necessary." 
The next meeting was at Steele Creek church, in April, 1792, to 
receive the reports of missionaries, and give com.missions for the 
summer succeeding. 

They held a third meeting for judicial business at Salem 
church, on the Nolachuckee, in September, to attend to a case of 
discipline between the Presbytery of Abingdon and the Rev. Mr. 
Gossan. 

The Synod approved of the doings of the corhmission after 
hearing their minutes read : — and Synod, on a review of the whole 
of the minutes of said commissioners, concurred in their approba- 
tion of all their proceedings since appointed to that office. There 
is one act of the commissioners to be noticed ; it was determined 
by them, while at Salem, that if either party felt aggrieved by 
this decision, they should have a re-hearing before Synod ; but no 
advantage was taken of it. 



388 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Orange Presbytery reported their admission of the Rev. Cohn 
Lindsey, from Europe, as a member of their body ; of their pro- 
ceedings the Synod approved. 

SESSION VI. 

''Sugaw Creek, Oct. 2d, 1793." 

The Synod met in regular sessions, and was opened with a ser- 
mon by the Rev. Dr. McCorkle, from 1st Cor. xii. 13. Rev, 
James Templeton was chosen moderator. Rev. Humphrey Hun- 
ter and' Robert Cunningham were reported from Peerly, of South 
Carohna, as new members ; and Lewis Fuileteau Wilson, James 
M'Gready, Joseph Kilpatrick, Alexander Caldwell, and Angus 
McDiarmid (a licentiate from Europe, ordained by the Presbytery), 
were reported from the Presbytery of Orange ; and Samuel Doake, 
from Abingdon Presbytery. 

In consequence of an overture. Synod passed the following 
recommendations, viz. : " That members of the church transgress- 
ing the rules thereof, be called on as soon as convenient to account 
for their conduct, and not wait till they may ask the privileges of 
the church." Notice of this recommendation was sent to all the 
absent members of Synod. 

The following letter was received from the Rev. Henry Pattillo, 
viz. : 

" TO THE MODERATOR. 

" Granville, Sd September, 1793. 

" Rev, and dear Brother — From the pleasure you enjoy in at- 
tending church judications, you can conjecture my mortification in 
being denied them. But my advanced age, and the great distance 
refuse me the privilege. I bless the great Lord of the harvest 
that he is sending so many qualified laborers to work for him. 
What a number of excellent youth did I see in Prince Edward at 
a Presbytery and Sacrament last spring ! of approved piety, warm 
zeal and indefatigable diligence, great popular talents, unstained 
reputation, and genteel behavior. There is scarcely a corner in 
Virginia where their voice has not been heard with pleasure and 
profit by multitudes. Presbyterianism, if that is worth regarding, 
was never half so extensively known and sought after in that State 
as now. I hope these characteristics of persons and successes 
agree to those worthy youths who have been sent out by us south 
of the Virginia line. On both sides they are all young, thriving 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 289 

American scions who flourish in their native soil : we have never 
found the exotic plants of Europe's cold regions to thrive among 
us. Frazer and Patton were the blots of human nature ; and 
others might be named, who have been, or are like to be, a grief 
to our hearts, rather than useful ministers of Jesus Christ, and a 
blessing to the churches. Their divinity, if they have one, is not 
Jesus Christ and the power of his grace in experimental rehgion, — 
their politics are monarchical, and suit not the liberal spirit of Ameri- 
can Republicans. They will neither pray, preach, nor live like 
pious youth bred among ourselves. I bear my testimony against 
the admission of such dry sticks among lively trees in our Ameri- 
can vineyard. And 1 assure myself, my worthy and beloved 
brethren will have nothing to do with such, but call on them to 
know Jesus Christ before they preach him. Their admission must 
be only a speedy prelude to their expulsion, while we hold the 
keys, and discipline is observed amongst us. The churches will 
be much better as vacancies than committed to stewards who 
would feed them with poison, or dry husks at best. If my rever- 
end brethren will admit this letter to record, it will speak for me 
when I am numbered with the dead. 

" I intended to send you the history of the Presbyterian church 
in these parts ; but must omit that for the present, and be ready 
by your spring meeting. Bear one word more on the great 
subject. As to Europe, though ^perhaps, as Sallust says of 
ancient Rome, she may be too old and feeble to produce many 
great men, yet she knows how to hold them, if they make their 
appearance ; so let it never be said, that such as she rejects should 
be licked up by America,in all the vigor of her youth in Church and 
State. One word more, — if there is such a scarcity of ministers, 
and there be so great a famine of the word of the Lord, we had 
infinitely better send forth pious laymen, who have trod the way, 
and would endeavor to lead others into it, than men who have 
nothing to recommend them but a smattering of languages and 
sciences, while they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, and 
strangers to vital piety. My prayers, my wishes, and, if you will 
forgive the expression, my fatherly cares are anxiously employed 
for you. May the pleasure of the Lord prosper in your hands. 
" Your own affectionate brother and obedient servant, 

" Henry Pattillo." 

Synod received information that the edition of Doddridge's Rise 
19 



290 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and Progress, &c., would be ready for delivery in the month of 
December. 

The commission of Synod reported repeated meetings, to com- 
mission the missionaries, mark out their routes, and to receive 
their reports. They reported, as having been in their employ, the 
following ministers : — James Hall, Samuel C. Caldwell, in North 
Carolina ; John Bowman in North Carolina and Tennessee ; Ro- 
bert McCulloch in South Carolina ; and Robert Cunningham in 
Georgia. These labored faithfully. On making their reports and 
exhibiting to the commission their receipts from contributions by 
the people to whom they had preached, they declined receiving 
from the Synod or the commission the small balance of their wages. 
The missionaries read their reports to Synod ; one of which is 
recorded : the other being lost before the records of Synod were 
transcribed into the present folio volume for preservation. 

SESSION VII. 

Steele Creek, Friday, October Sd, 1794. 

Synod was opened, in the absence of the moderator, by Rev, 
Samuel C. Caldwell, with a sermon from Ezekiel xxiii., 36 
and 37. 

The Rev. James Hall was chosen moderator. 

New members reported : From South Carolina Presbytery, — 
Moses Waddel, John Brown, William Williamson, and Robert 
Wilson : Abingdon Presbytery, — Robert Henderson and Gideon 
Blackburn. 

An inquiry took place in Synod respecting an absent member of 
the Presbytery of Orange, the Rev. Robert Archibald, who was 
charged by common fame with preaching the doctrine of universal 
restoration of mankind : and the Orange Presbytery having given 
to Synod a relation of their proceedings in regard to Mr. Archibald 
— " Synod advised that the members of Orange resolve themselves 
into a Presbyterial capacity and immediately decide on the affairs 
of Mr. Archibald. Accordingly, the members of the Presbytery 
of Orange constituted and came to the following decision 
— That the Rev. Robert Archibald be suspended, and he is 
hereby suspended from the exercise of his ministerial office, and 
from the communion of our church. And Synod ordered that 
each member of their respective Presbyteries publish in his own 
and in vacant congregations the decision of Orange Presbytery 
relative to Mr. Archibald, and warn them against the reception of 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 291 

llie above doctrine : and warn them also against countenancing or 
receiving Mr. Archibald as a minister of the gospel in his present 
standing." 

The Synod received report from South Carolina Presbytery, that 
proper steps had been taken to fully answer the requisition of Synod 
respecting the history of the churches. The members of Orange 
Presbytery were enjoined to send the proper materials for the 
history of their churches to Rev. Messrs. Dr. McCorkle and James 
Hall ; and the members of Abingdon, to Rev. Messrs. Hezekiah 
Balch and Robert Henderson, before the 1st of December; that 
they might prepare a narrative for the inspection of their Presby- 
teries at the spring meeting ; and from thence to be sent on to the 
next sessions of the General Assembly. 

The commission of Synod reported their various meetings and 
appointments. The following missionaries read their reports of 
travel and labor to the Synod : — Rev. James Hall, a tour in the 
lower part of North Carolina ; Mr. John M. Wilson, to the lower 
part of North Carolina ; Mr. Robert Wilson, to the lower part of 
South Carolina ; Mr. John Robinson, to the lower part of South 
Carolina ; Mr. John Bowman,t o the lower part of North Carolina ; 
and Mr. James H. Bowman to the same region. The reports of 
the missionaries were spread on the minutes of Synod, and cover 
sixteen folio pages, and show great diligence in missionary work, 
and the alarming want of ministers-. 

In consequence of an overture, Sjmod ordered their several 
Presbyteries to call on th«ir respective members and church ses- 
sions, and their several licentiates and vacancies to render an ac- 
count, once a year, how they discharge their respective duties to 
each other ; " yet the Presbyteries are to conduct, as to vacancies, 
as prudence may direct." 

SESSION VIII. 

New Providence, Thursday, Oct. 1st, 1795. 
The Synod was opened with a sermon by the Rev. James Tem- 
plcton, from Isaiah Ixii., 6 and 7. The Rev. James White Ste- 
phenson was chosen moderator. The Presbytery of Orange reported 
new members by ordination, — John Robinson, James Bowman, 
John M. Wilson, and John Carrigan ; also Samuel Stanford and 
Humphrey Hunter, from other Presbyteries. The Presbytery of 
South Carolina reported Robert B. Walker, William Montgomery, 
and David Dunlap. 



292 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

It appearing to Synod that an ordained missionary was required 
in the Western Territory, and it being stated that Mr. Wm. Mc- 
Gee, of Orange Presbytery, was wilhng to take an appointment 
for that purpose — " Ordered that the Presbytery be directed, and 
they are hereby directed to ordain Mr, McGee, as soon as may be 
convenient, agreeably to the permission granted to this Synod, in 
such cases, by the General Assembly, at their sessions of last 
May." 

The Presbytery of Orange was divided by a line running along 
the Yadkin River. The Rev. Henry Pattillo, David Caldwell, 
Colin Lindsey, David Kerr, WiUiam Moore, William Hodge, 
James M'Gready, Samuel Stanford, Angus McDermaid, John 
Robinson, and James H. Bowman, retain the names of the Pres- 
bytery of Orange, to meet at New Hope, on the third Wednesday 
of November. The Rev. Henry Pattillo, to preach the opening 
sermon and preside ; in case of his absence, the senior minister 
present to perform these duties. 

The Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, D.D., James Hall, James 
McRee, David Barr, Samuel C. Caldwell, James Wallis, Joseph 
D. Kilpatrick, Lewis F. Wilson, Humphrey Hunter, Alexander 
Caldwell, John M. Wilson, and Joseph Carragan, to be known by 
the name of the Presbytery of Concord, to meet at Centre Church, 
on the last Tuesday of March, 1796, Mr. Wallis to preach and 
preside till a moderator be chosen. 

Dr. McCorkle produced to Synod receipts for £80 12s. 9d. ; 
paid towards the printing of Doddridge's Rise and Progress, &c. 

" The Synod taking into consideration the unusually adverse 
dispensation of Providence towards our Southern States, respecting 
the fruits of the earth ; the critical situation of our nation with 
respect to Great Britain ; and the languishing state of religion in 
the church, do earnestly recommend to all the societies under their 
care to observe the second Wednesday of December next, as a 
day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, to Almighty God, that he 
may avert the calamities of famine, continue with us the blessings 
of peace, and favor his church with a revival of religion." 

SESSION IX. . 

Morganton, Thursday, Nov. Sd, 1796. 

The Synod was opened with a sermon by the Rev. Samuel 
Carrick, from Psalm Iviii., 5. Mr. Carrick was chosen moderator. 
The Presbytery of South Carolina reported new members — John 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 293 

Foster, George E. Macwhorter, John B. Kennedy, James t^ille- 
land, and Samuel W, Yongue ; and also the R^v. Thomas Reese 
and Thomas H. McCaule, deceased since the last meetmff. 

Upon inquiry, it appeared that Dr. Sibley had not executed the 
promised edition of Doddridge ; and fears were expressed of a 
total failure of the contemplated edition. 

The members of South Carolina Presbytery, living west of 
Savannah River, viz., Rev. John Newton, John Springer, Robert 
M. Cunningham, Moses Waddel, and William Montgomery, were, 
by request, set oif to form a Presbytery by the name of Hope- 
well, to meet on the third Thursday of March, 1797, to be con- 
stituted by the Rev. John Springer, or in his absence, the senior 
member. 

The following question was overtured, viz. : " Is it expedient 
to admit baptized slaves as witnesses in ecclesiastical judicatories 
where others cannot be had ?" Answered in the negative. An 
order was passed enjoining upon heads of families the religious 
instruction of their slaves ; and the teaching tlie children of slaves 
to read the Bible. 

By documents from Abingdon Presbytery and others, it appear- 
ed there had been great excitement in that Presbytery ; and that 
in consequence, Rev. Charles Cummins, Edward Crawford, 
Samuel Doake, Joseph Lake, and James Balch, had separated 
themselves from their brethren, and formed the Independent Pres- 
bytery of Abingdon. The cause assigned was, that Rev. Heze- 
kiah Balch had published in the Knoxville Gazette, a number of 
Articles of Faith, which gave great offence to many brethren, and 
also to many of the people ; the matter had been laid before the 
Presb5rtery, and Mr. Balch apologizing for some personal abuse 
and imprudent doings, and explaining his doctrines as not contrary 
to the Confession of Faith, the majority were satisfied to dismiss 
the matter. The brethren mentioned above, were so dissatisfied 
with this conclusion of the matter, that they withdrew and formed 
their Presbytery. In their letter to the Presbytery, they sa)' — 
" There is no manner of doubt but they, who have declared them- 
selves Independent, will immediately return to the union, in form, 
as soon as they shall," &c. The conditions of their return were, 
dealing with Balch, and those who held his sentiments, and an 
assurance of protection " in preaching and exercising church disci- 
phne, according to the Confession of Faith." What Mr. Balch's 
creed was, which they considered erroneous, does not appear. 
The Synod directed letters to be sent to the churches in Abingdon 



294 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Presbytery, and to the Independent Presbytery ; but wliat were 
their contents does not appear on the records. 

" A memorial was brought forward and laid before Synod, by 
the Rev. James Gilleland, stating his conscientious difficulties in 
receiving the advice of the Presbytery of South Carolina, which 
has enjoined upon him to be silent in the pulpit on the subject of 
the emancipation of the Africans, which injunction Mr. Gilleland 
declares to be, in his apprehension, contrary to the counsel of 
God. Whereupon Synod, after deliberation upon the matter, do 
concur with the Presbytery in advising Mr. Gilleland to content 
himself with using his utmost endeavors in private to open the 
way for emancipation, so as to secure our happiness as a people, 
preserve the peace of the church, and render them capable of en- 
joying the blessings of liberty. Synod is of the opinion, to preach 
publicly against slavery, in present circumstances, and to lay 
down as the duty of every one, to liberate those who axe under 
their care, is that w^hich would lead to disorder, and open the 
way to great confusion." 

Synod adjourned, to meet at Mount Bethel, on the second 
Thursday in August, 1797. 



SESSION X. 

The minutes of the session held at Mount Bethel, near Green- 
ville, Tennessee, never passed into the hands of the stated clerk. 
It appears, however, from reference in succeeding minutes, that 
the formation of the Independent Presbytery was condemned, 
and the members suspended ; and the discontent in the bounds 
of Abingdon Presbyteiy being very great, a commission of Synod 
was appointed to meet at Mount Bethel, in November, to hear 
and adjudicate the complaints and charges made against members 
of the Presbytery. 

COMMISSION OF SYNOD. 

A commission of Synod, consisting of fourteen ministers and 
twelve elders, met at Mount Bethel, near Greenville, Tennessee, 
Tuesday, November 21 st, 1 797. Rev. Francis Cummins preached 
from Romans viii., 1st, and was chosen moderator. The first 
step was to set apart the next day as a day of public fasting and 
humiliation before God. The people were requested to join with 
them in tlie services. The Rev, Samuel Doake, Jacob Lake, 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 295 

and James Balch, appeared, and having declared their submission 
to Synod, and disavowing their independence, and confessing 
their irregularity, and declaring their return to order, the com- 
mission removed their suspension, and restored them to the full 
exercise of the ministerial office. 

Various charges were exhibited against Rev, Hezekiah Balch, 
and the witnesses brought forward, and their testimony given. 
1st. He was charged with contradicting himself in a certain state- 
ment about Drs. Hopkins and Edwards being members of the 
association of Connecticut, and in communion with the General 
Assembly ; first affirming and then denying his having said so. 
On this charge he was acquitted, and the persons who brought 
it were reproved. He was also charged with saying " the saints 
appeared in heaven in their own righteousness," and afterwards 
of denying. He admitted the declaration, and disclaimed the 
denial. It was proved that he explained it as "the fruit of 
Christ's righteousness," &;c. This part of the charge was not 
sustained, and the reporters of it were reproved. 

2d. He was charged with preaching false doctrine. No manu- 
script or printed paper of his preparation was produced. The 
witnesses stated what they recollected of his sermons and con- 
versation, that they thought culpably erroneous. He was accused 
of charging the church of Scotland and some of our Calvinistic 
divines of holding the doctrine "ihat there were infants in hell 
not a span long ;" of saying '* that original sin is not conveyed 
by natural generation ;" that if it were, the procreation of children 
would be sinful, a damning sin ; that he justified a man in saying 
he was not afraid to take upon himself the original sin of the 
whole human family, Adam excepted (the person explaining that 
by original sin he meant Adam's particular act in eating the for- 
bidden fruit) ; of saying " there was no sin but in self-love ; 
that Adam's sin was his only, by approbation and imitation " (but 
that he also affirmed that the corruption of our nature, and the 
propensity to make a wrong choice, was from Adam) ; of saying 
that " we were not liable to condemnation till we became moral 
agents, or capable of a wrong choice, then the dire consequences 
of Adam's sin were imputed, but not his personal act ;" of saying 
" that answer in our catechism was wrong, which says ' no mere 
man can keep the comjnands of God perfect,'' for they were able, 
if they were willing ; that through Adam's sin our nature was 
corrupted, but none were chargeable till they acted ; and that the 
first act was original sin in our posterity." 



296 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

On tliis charge with the specifications, the commission of Synod 
" view it as involving in it doctrines akeady refen-ed to the General 
Assembly, and therefore unanimously agree to refer the charge, 
with the testimony, to the General Assembly for consideration 
and judgment." 

During this part of the trial, one witness made a statement, 
which, although it bears not on the merits of the case, and was 
incidentally given in, is nevertheless interesting, viz : " Mr. Balch 
said he had no new doctrine, though Mr. Doake and Mr. James 
Balch had labored to establish that he had. In his late tour (to 
New England) he had gathered no new doctrines, only explana- 
tions, for he considered mankind as guilty as ever he did, only 
the old way was a lie, and the new one was true." From the 
frequent reference to Dr. Hopkins, it would seem that he intended 
to hold and preach the peculiar doctrines of that celebrated man. 
The third charge was "for marrying Joseph Posey and Jane 
Reeves together, knowing that he, Joseph Posey, had a lawful 
wife living within three miles of him." The first part of the 
charge, the marrying, he admitted ; the latter part, involving cri- 
minality, he denied. Though he admitted he knew she had been 
his lawful wife. The judgment of the commission was, that 
" Posey had not been legally freed from his former wife " at the 
time Mr. Balch performed the marriage ceremony, and that " Rev. 
Hezckiah Balch had conducted in a precipitate and irregular man- 
ner, in marrying Joseph Posey to Jane Reeves, and that this ac- 
tion, if received as a precedent, would introduce great and mani- 
fold evils, both in church and state." 

The fourth charge was for creating a new session in Mount 
Bethel, contrary to the constitution. The fact of creating a new 
session was admitted ; and the principal circumstances were agreed 
upon by the witnesses. The new session had suspended the old, 
and those who went with them ; and great confusion had arisen in 
the congregations and the Presbytery. The cause of division 
which led to the appointment of the new session, was the novelty 
of the doctrines Mr. Balch preached, which, notwithstanding all 
his explanations, appeared to many of his people, and part of the 
Presbytery, to be erroneous ; they have been stated under the 2d 
charge. The new session was made up of friends to Mr. Balch, 
— the old session greatly opposed him. 

The judgment of the commission was, " that the new session 
was unconstitutionally created, and all their judicial acts null 
and void." Mount Bethel was released from the pastoral care of 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 297 

Mr. Balch, and pronounced a vacancy. The petition of Abingdon 
Presbytery for division, was granted : and the Rev. Charles Cum- 
mins, Samuel Doake, Jacob Lake and James Balch, were set off 
to compose Abingdon Presbytery, to meet at Salem on the 14th 
instant, Mr. Lake to preach and preside ; — and Rev. Hezekiah 
Balch, John Cossan, Samuel Carrick, Robert Henderson and 
Gideon Blackburn, to compose tlie Presbytery of Union, to meet 
at Hopewell on the 2d Tuesday of February, 1798, Mr. Carrick 
to preach and preside ; in case of absence of either person ap- 
pointed to preside, the oldest member present to supply his place. 
The subject of promiscuous communion was taken up by the 
commissioners on an overture ; and the decision was, that as it 
was not necessary, and as it gave offence to some of the people as 
implying a coalescence with other denominations in doctrines not 
held by him, from "prudential motives," a minister ought to ab- 
stain. No decision was given respecting the occasional commu- 
nion of private members. 

SESSION XI. 

Bethel Church, South Carolina, Oct. I8th, 1798. 

The session was opened by Rev. S. C. Caldwell, tlie last 
moderator, with a sermon from Philippians ii., 12th and 13th, and 
the Rev. Francis Cummins was chosen moderator. The Pres- 
bytery of Concord reported new members, Wm. C. Davies, from 
South Carolina Presbytery ; and by ordination, George Newlon and 
Samuel Davies : the Presbytery of Union reported Samuel G. 
Ramsey by ordination ; the Presbytery of Hopewell reported the 
death of John Springer. 

Liquiries were made about the edition of Doddridge's Rise and 
Progress ; no satisfactory information was obtained. Rev. Ed- 
ward Crawford, who was suspended in 1797, as being member 
of the Independent Presbytery, appeared ; and having made suita- 
ble concessions and received an admonition from the chair, was 
ceived as a member of Synod and a member of Abingdon Pres- 
bytery. 

Charges which had been brought against Rev. Hezekiah Balch, 
by the old session of Mount Bethel, before Union Pre*sbytery, and 
by them referred to Synod, were read : The 1st charge accused 
Mr. Balch of having held an election for elders in Mount Bethel 
Church, soon after the first meeting of the Presbytery of Union, 
while the congregation was vacant, against the will and desire of 



298 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the old session : and refusing the privilege of voting to any who 
had not signed a call for himself. The 2d charge accused him of 
intruding on the congregation the first Sabbath after his return 
from Philadelphia, and preaching without leave of session, while 
they had two young men engaged and there, on that day : and 
also ordaining elders against the express order of the existing ses- 
sion ; and also for persisting to preach in the congregation. 3d 
charge — " We charge Mr. Balch for deviating from the truth, by 
denying in the Assembly, that he ever said in Presbytery, August, 
1796, that he meant the same by the word transfer as impute. 
Also for denying in the Assembly that he ever held that there was 
not a covenant made with Adam ; for proof of which, see the As- 
semljly's judgment on his creed. And that he did hold there was 
not a covenant made with Adam." 

The 4th charge accused Mr. Balch of falsehood in denying 
what he had said in a sermon about original sin, and of charging 
his accusers with drunkenness, &c. 

5th Charge. — " We charge Mr. Balch for saying since his re- 
turn from the General Assembly, that he was fifty thousand times 
stronger in belief of that definition of holiness (alluding to the 
creed) than he was before he went away. For those expressions 
w'e give Josiah Temple and Alexander Galbraith as evidence ; and 
that that definition of holiness was pointed out as erroneous by 
the General Assembly, we refer you to the judgment on his 
creed." 

Charges were brought against ]\Ir. Balch by two other indivi- 
duals, of minor importance. 

Mr. Balch brought charges against the old session, for using 
violence towards him, by driving him from the meeting-house ; and 
fuj.- not keeping their word, &c. 

Synod judged on the first and second charges, that the election 
of the ciders after the rising of the commission (held at Mount 
Bethel) was irregular ; and that Mr. Balch is highly censurable 
for ordaining them so disorderly and schismatically ; and that he 
was imprudent in preaching in the house to but a part of the con- 
gregation. Respecting Mr. Balch's charges against the elders, 
the Synod decided, — That the elders " had blameably violated " 
their promise in not withdrawing certain civil suits ; and were 
highly censurable for interrupting Mr. Balch in time of worship, 
and driving him out of the house ; and that one of the elders had 
improperly used the name of God, for which he is highly censur- 
able. 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 299 

As the other matters were not ready for trial, Synod postponed 
final sentence on these matters until the Extraordinary Synod, ap- 
pointed to be held at Little Britain, on the second Tuesday of Feb- 
ruary, 1799, for the purpose of attending to all the charges and all 
matters of difficulty. 

EXTRAORDINARY SESSION. 

Little Britain, Rutherford Co., N. C, ISth Feb., 1799. 

Synod was opened by the moderator, Francis Cummins, with a 
sermon from Titus iii., 10, 11. Present thirteen ministers and 
seven elders. 

About thirty folio pages of evidence on the three remaining 
charges against Mr. Balch, for and against them, had been taken 
by a committee, and were read in Synod. Mr. Balch was heard 
in his defence ; and Mr. Galbraith was heard for tliose who had 
accused him : and both professed they had nothing more to say in 
the case. 

The Synod decided on the 3d and 4th charges brought by the 
session, that they were not sustained by the evidence. On the 5th 
charge Mr. Balch acknowledged that he had expressed himself as 
charged, and that his only objection was, it was not strong enough ; 
*' instead of fifty thousand times, he would say five hundred thou- 
sand times." Whereupon " the Synod, after mature deliberation, 
judge, that Mr. Balch has acted with duplicity in expressing him- 
self as laid down in the charge, considering the judgment of the 
Assembly, and his submission to that judgment." 

The two other charges were pronounced unsustained. 

The Synod proceeded to pronounce sentence on Mr. Balch : 
*' Do hereby suspend him from the exercise of his office as a m'P" 
nister of the gospel, and refer him to the Presbytery of Union, to 
which he belongs, who will be adequate to the removal of the 
suspension, when reformation on the part of Mr. Balch shall open 
the way." They also pronounced the sentence of suspension 
from the office of elder and the communion of the church upon 
four of the elders who had appeared against Mr. Balch, for the 
impropriety and irregularity of their course ; also the sentence of a 
public reprimand on two others who appeared ; and that of a pri- 
vate reprimand on two others, as not having exhibited a proper 
spirit. A committee was appointed to repair to Mount Bethel, 
and communicate the sentence and administer the admonitions. 

On the sentence being read, Mr. Galbraith, who appeared in the 



300 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

name of the session, expressed his submission Mr. Balch asked 
till the 'next day for consideration. The next day Mr. Balch asked 
a re-hearing, which was refused, as, in the judgment of Spiod, 
there did not appear to be sufficient cause. 

After a session of six days, the record of which, with the evi- 
dence, covers about fort3^-one folio pages, the session closed with 
the following minutes : 

" The Rev. Hezekiah Balch read the following paper, which he 
requested to be entered on the minutes, viz : To the Rev. Synod 
of the Carolinas : As I do not wish to do anything that may have 
the least appearance of obstinacy, I do cheerfully submit to your 
judgment ; at the same time solemnly declaring that I am not con- 
scious of anything, in the matter referred to, more than impru- 
dence, which I hope I shall always be ready to acknowledge, as 
far as I can without injury to my conscience or the truth. I hum- 
bly request that this, my answer, may be entered on your minutes. 
" I am yours, 
(" Signed,) " Hezekiah Balch." 

" The parties having both submitted to the judgment of Synod, 
received a suitable admonition from the moderator." " At the 
request of Mr. Balch, Mr. Galbraith and he shook hands in the 
presence of Synod in testimony of their personal affection to and 
cordial wishes for the welfare of each other, and hopes of a per- 
manent friendship hereafter." And the Extraordinary Session 
closed. 

SESSION XII. 

Hopewell Church, October 31 5?, 1799. 

Rev. Francis Cum-inins opened the sessions with a sermon from 
Luke xiii., 22 ; and James McRee was chosen moderator. 

Four new names appear on the list of Orange Presbytery as 
ordained either in the year '97 or '98 ; the list of '97 was lost with 
records ; and in '98 the list is not given. The four were William 
T. Thomson, William Paisley, John Gillespie, Samuel McAdo, 
and Robert Tate. The Presbytery reported also Mr. John An- 
derson, from another Presbytery. 

Several cases came before Synod, by overture or request, con- 
cerning marriages within the forbidden degree of relationship : one 
respecting a man marrying his former wife's half-brother's widow ; 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 301 

— dismissed, as not within the prohibited degrees : one of a man 
who had married his deceased wife's sister's daughter, — laid over 
till the matter could come before the Assembly, for a general rule 
on such subjects : and one of a man who had married his former 
wife's sister, and had with her been under suspension for some 
time, — laid over. 

The case of Mr, Bowman, who had been suspended by the 
Abingdon Presbytery, for unsound doctrine, was taken up ; and, 
after hearing Mr. Bowman's explanations, the Synod reversed the 
sentence, and addressed an affectionate letter to the Presbytery. 
The subject of dispute was the extent and manner of the offer of 
the Gospel — Mr. Bowman using the phrases of Dr. Hopkins, and 
his views of Election, which were disagreeable to his brethren, 
and, though not altogether agreeable, yet not condemned by 
Synod. 

This year four of the Presbyteries presented a report of their 
preachers, with their places of preacing, which may interest the 
reader. 

Presbytery of Orange — 14 members, 

Henry Pattillo, Grassy Creek and Nutbush, 

David Caldwell, Buffalo and Alamance. 

Colin Lindsay, without charge. 

WiUiam Moore, Upper and Lower Hico. 

William Hodge, without charge. 

Samuel Stanford, Black River, and Brown Marsh. 

Angus McDiarmid, Barbacue, Bluff, McCoy's. 

James H. Bowman, Eno, and Little River. 

William F. Thompson, New Hope. 

John Gillespie, Centre, Laurel Hill, and Raft Swamp, 

William D. Paisley, Union, and Lower Buffalo, 

Samuel McAdo, Speedwell and Haw River. 

John Anderson, without charge. 

Robert Tate, South Washington and Rockfish. 
Licentiates — John Rankin, Robert Foster, Andrew Caldwell, 
and Edward Pharr. Candidates — Daniel Brown, Ezekiel B. 
Cun-ie, John Matthews, Duncan Brown, Murdock McKillan, Mal- 
colm McNair, Hugh Shaw, and Murdock Murphy. They have 
ordained William McGee ; — have licensed Barton Stone, — and 
dismissed them both to connect themselves with the Presbytery of 
Transylvania. 



302 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Presbytery of South Carolina — 18 ministers. 

Joseph Alexander, Bullock's Creek. 

John Simpson, Good Hope, and Roberts. 

James Templeton, Nazareth. 

Francis Cummins, Rocky River. 

Robert McCullock, Catholic and Purity. 

James W. Stephenson, Indianstown and WiUiamsburgh. 

John Brown, Waxhaws. 

Robert Wilson, Long Cane. 

William Williamson, Fairforest. 

Robert B. Walker, Bethesda. 

David E. Dunlap, Columbia. 

Samuel W. Yongue, Lebanon and Mount Olivet. 

John Foster, Salem. 

James Gilleland, Bradoway. 

John B. Kennedy, Duncan's Creek and Little River, 

George E. Macwhorter, Bethel and Beersheba. 

Andrevv^ Brow^n, Bethlehem and Cane Creek. 

John B. Davies, Fishing Creek and Richardson. 
They have three licentiates, — George Reid, William G. Ros- 
borough, and John Couser : and two candidates, — High Dickson 
and Thomas Neely. 

Presbytery of Concord — 15 ministers. 
Samuel E. McCorkle, D.D., Thyatira. 
James Hall, Bethany. 
James McRee, Centre. 
David Barr, Philadelphia. 
Wm. C. Davies, Olney. 

Samuel C. Caldwell, Sugaw Creek and Hopewell. 
James Wallis, Providence. 
Joseph D. Kilpatrick, Third Creek and Unity. 
Lewis F. Wilson, Concord and Fourth Creek. 
Humphrey Hunter, Goshen and Unity. 
John M. Wilson, Quaker Meadow and Morgantown, 
John Carrigan, Ramah, and Bethpage. 
John Andrews, Little Britain. 
Samuel Davies, Mamre. 

George Newton, Swannanoe and Rim's Creek. 
They have one candidate, Thomas Hall. 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 303 

Union Presbytery — 4 members. 

Samuel Carrick, the Fork and Knoxville. 

Robert Henderson, Westminster and Hopewell. 

Gideon Blackburn, Eusebia and New Providence. 

Samuel G . Ramsey, Ebenezer and Pleasant Forest. 
It would have been gratifying, if the other Presbyteries had made 
a return, that we might know the places in which the ministers of 
the Synod labored at the close of the last century ; with all the 
candidates, vacancies, and licentiates ; a reference and compari- 
son would be advantageous to the present generation. 

On petition, the Presbytery of South Carolina was divided, and 
Broad River made the dividing line. The members on the north- 
east side of the river, viz., Joseph Alexander, Robert McCullock, 
James W. Stephenson, John Brown, Robert B. Walker, David E. 
Dunlap, Samuel W. Yongue, John Foster, George E. Macwhorter, 
and John B. Davies, to constitute the first Presbytery of South 
Carolina, to meet at Bullock's Creek, on the first Friday of Feb- 
ruary, 1800, and Rev. Joseph Alexander to preside, or the senior 
member in his absence. And the members on the south-west 
side, viz., Joseph Simpson, James Templeton, Francis Cummins, 
Robert Wilson, Wm. Williamson, James Gilleland, John B. 
Kennedy, and Andrew Brown, to be known as the Second Pres- 
bytery of South Carolina, to hold its first meeting at Fair Forest, 
on the first Friday of February, 1800. The Rev. John Simpson 
to preside, or in his absence the senior member. The first named 
Presbytery to keep the records of the past, furnishing to the 
second such extracts as they may need. 

Synod resolved to hold its annual meetings, hereafter, in Octo- 
ber, commencing the first Thursday. 

SESSION XIII, 

Sugaiv Creek, Oct. 2d, 1800. 

Synod was opened by Rev. James McRee, with a sermon from 
1st Tim. iv., 16. The Rev. John Brown was chosen moderator. 
The Rev. James S. Adams and Thomas Price, of the Indepen- 
dent church, being present, were invited to seats as corresponding 
members. 

It appearing, that the letter, on the subject of the difhculties 
attending marriages in afiinity, which was prepared for the last 
Assembly, failed to reach the Assembly ; a committee was appoint- 
ed to draft another this meeting. 



304 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

From the report of Orange Presbytery, it appeared, that the 
Presbytery had conditionally suspended Colin Lindsey, and had 
dismissed Wm. Hodge, Samuel McAdo, and Mr. John Rankin, to 
go to the West. An overture for the purpose of commencing a 
correspondence with other religious denominations in the State, 
about petitioning the legislature for the emancipation of the slaves, 
on the principle that all children of slaves born after a fixed time, 
shall be free, which was brought in last meeting of Synod was 
taken up and disposed of by the following report, which was adopted : 
" Your committee report, that though it is our ardent wish that the 
object contemplated in the overture should be obtained ; yet, as it 
appears to us that matters are not yet matured for carrying it for- 
ward, especially in the southern parts of our States, your com- 
mittee are of opinion that the overture should now be laid aside ; 
and that it be enjoined upon every member of this Synod to use 
his influence to carry into effect the directions and recommenda- 
tions of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, and those ad- 
ditionally made by the General Assembly, for the instruction of 
those who are in a state of slavery, to prepare them the better for 
a state of freedom, when such shall be contemplated by the legis- 
latures of our southern States." 

" The Synod considering the importance and necessity of carry- 
ing on the missionary business, — that the Rev. James Hall has 
been appointed by the General Assembly to the Natchez, and 
ought, if possible, to have company, — determined to send with 
him. two members, viz., the Rev. Messrs. James H. Bowman and 
William Montgomery, who are directed to spend eight months, if 
convenient and they find it expedient, in that country and places 
adjacent; commencing their mission about the 15th instant : and 
for the support of these missionaries the Synod itself to give them 
thirty-three and one-third dollars per month from the time they 
engage in the work ; they rendering a regular account of all 
moneys received by them during their mission." ( The reason for 
passing the subject of missions for a few years is nowhere given.) 

Overture from the First Presbytery of South Carolina. — " In 
case of fornication, will an acknowledgment before the church 
session, and reported to the congregation, be sufficient ?" Answered 
in the negative. 

A pastoral letter on the subject of domestic missions was pre- 
pared and sent to the Presbyteries to be laid before the congrega- 
tions. 

Rev. Hczekiah Balch brought a complaint against the Presby- 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 305 

tery of Abingdon for having ordained Mr. Wilherspoon in Mount 
Bethel church before they had settled their money accounts with 
himself; and also because Mr. W. held the following sentiments, 
as expressed in a public sermon : " 1st. That Jesus Christ is not 
the object of faith, 2d. That the justification of a sinner through 
the atonement of Christ is an act of justice. 3d. That the justifi- 
cation of a sinner through the righteousness of Christ, is not as 
wholly an act of God's free grace, as if there had been no atone- 
ment made. 4th. That there was no difference between saving 
faith and historical faith, only in degree of evidence." 

Trial of the complaint was ordered for next meeting of Synod. 

On petition from Hezekiah Balch and others, a new Presbytery 
was set off, to be known by the name of Greenville, to consist 
of Rev. Messrs. George Newton, Samuel Davis, Hezekiah Balch, 
and John Cossan, to meet at Swannanoe church, on the third 
Tuesday of November next, and Mr. Newton to preside and 
preach ; and that Messrs. John Bowman and Stephen Bovelle, 
with their congregations, be attached either to the Abingdon or 
Greenville Presbytery, as they may choose. 

SESSION XIV. 

Fishing Creek, October 1st, 1801. 

Synod was opened by Rev. John Brown, with a sermon from^ 
Rom. xi., 13 ; and William Montgolnery was chosen moderator. 

The Presbytery of Orange reported they had removed the con- 
ditional suspension of Colin Lindsey, dismissed the Rev. John 
Anderson to the first Presbytery of South Carolina : that they had 
deposed Robert M'Culloch, and ordained William Rosborough ; 
the Presbytery of Concord, that they had suspended Rev. David 
Barr ; the Presbytery of Greenvdle, that they had ordained John 
Bowman and dismissed him, and had ordained Stephen Bovelle. 

" The reports of our missionaries to the Natchez were called for 
and read, together with some other papers relating to that business. 
The Synod were happy to find, that by the blessing of Divine 
Providence, the good consequences of that mission appear to have 
far exceeded their most sanguine expectations. The missionaries 
received the cordial thanks of the house for their prudence, zeal, and 
diligence, in the execution of the important duties assigned them." 

The case of the man who had married his wife's sister's daugh- 
ter, and was put undel' discipline by the Synod at its session, in 
1789, was taken up, and after much consideration the Synod 
20 



306 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

addpted the following : " This Synod so far rescind their former 
judgment, as to leave it to the church session of the congregation 
to which Mr. Latham belongs, to do as they think pmdence and 
duty may direct them ; keeping carefully in view the glory of God, 
and the peace and happiness of the church in those parts," 

The complaint of Mr. Balcli against the Presbytery of Abingdon 
was taken up. On the first complaint (see last session) the S3aiod 
judged that the Presbytery ought, at the time Mr. Balch presented 
his claim against the people, or at some other convenient season, 
to have endeavored to bring the matter to a proper adjustment ; 
and also that it was neglect, if not unfriendly, in Mr. Balch, not to 
have presented his claims earlier, for a fair adjustment. 

On the complaint and charges against Mr. Witherspoon (see 
last session), the action was as follows : Having heard Mr. With- 
erspoon explain the first specification that, he meant " the immedi- 
ate object of faith ; the Scriptures, or the report of the Apostles 
about Christ was the immediate object, the Synod do judge — that 
the young man's mode of expression was unhappy and unguarded ; 
yet it appears to this Synod, that the Presbytery may probably 
have had satisfactory testimony of his orthodoxy on that particu- 
lar." On the second specification, Mr. Witherspoon said, he used 
the expression, " and well remembers that he added, it was also an 
act of mercy ; that it was mercy as it respected the sinner, but 
justice as it respected God, who passed the act ; that the atone- 
ment answered the demands of justice, and laid the ground for the 
act to pass in justice." Synod judged — " Mr. Witherspoon's 
phrase, that justification, as it respects the atonement, is an act of 
justice, may be explained in a good sense." On the third specifi- 
cation, Mr. Witherspoon said, he had read in a work of Mr. Ed- 
wards, borrowed of Mr. B. — " that the justification of a sinner is 
as wholly an act of God's free grace as if there had been no atone- 
ment," and that he had expressed a doubt on the matter, that the 
atonement might thereby be superseded. The Synod passed by 
what might have been said in private by Mr, Witherspoon, and 
judged, " inasmuch as Mr. Witherspoon appears to have held, and 
still to hold, that the justification of a sinner is not wholly an act 
of grace, or not as wholly as if there had been no atonement, the 
Presbytery ought not to have proceeded to ordain jMr, Wither- 
spoon, without endeavoring to bring him to a right view of the doc- 
trine." On the fourth specification, after hearing Mr. W.'s expla- 
nation, the Synod judged, " that Mr. Witherspoon's proposition is 
not true ; yet he has explained himself consistently with truth ; 
.and that the Presbytery ought to have endeavored to bring him to 



MINUTES OF THE SYNOD. 307 

a mode of expression more consistent with his own ideas, as his 
proposition and explanation appear to be very different." 

" Upon the whole, this Synod, sorry to find that the brethren 
over the mountains still retain so much of the spirit of warm oppo- 
sition, DO SOLEMNLY RECOMMEND to Mr. Balch, and those who 
are opposed to him, to pray for and endeavor to exercise more of 
that spirit of meekness and brotherly kindness which the gospel so 
frequently recommends to us, and endeavor to cultivate friendship 
with each other. And further, the Synod recommend to the Pres- 
bytery of Abingdon a more strict regard to our standards of doc- 
trine and discipline, especially in introducing young men to the 
ministry of the gospel." " The parties acceded to the judgment." 

The Synod passed orders, for the purpose of bringing the sub- 
ject of missions before all the congregations ; and for obtaining 
collections from them all for the support of missionaries, 

A petition from the congregations of Greenspring and Sinking 
Spring, with a remonstrance against the proceedings of Abingdon 
Presbytery, in ordaining Mr. Bovelle pastor of Sinking Spring, in 
the peculiar case of the congregation, particularly that there was so 
strong an opposition to him. After much time spent in hearing 
papers produced by the Presbytery and Mr. Bradley, the represent- 
ative of the congregation, the Synod judged that the Presbytery 
" acted incautiously " in ordaining Mr. Bovelle in the circum- 
stances ; and after appointing a committee to take the sense of the 
congregation on the continuance' or discontinuance of the connex- 
ion and to lay the result before the Presbytery, who are to act 
accordingly, they say — " And further, this Synod do seriously and 
solemnly, and with all the authority which they possess as a judi- 
cature of the church of Christ, recommend to the ministers and 
people beyond the mountains, and especially to the people of Sink- 
ing Spring and Greenspring congregations, to seek peace and pur- 
sue it. O brethren, live peaceably among yourselves ! Let 
brotherly love continue. See that ye fall not out by the way." 
The Presbytery of Greenville was directed to hold a meeting on 
the second Tuesday of February, to receive the report of the com- 
mittee and to determine the case. 

The Rev. William Montgomery, of Presbytery of Hopewell, 
and Mr. John Matthews, a licentiate of Orange Presbytery, were 
appointed missionaries to the Mississippi Territory, from the 15th 
of November, to act as long as they shall judge convenient. 
Thomas Hall, a licentiate of Concord Presbytery, was appointed 
to itinerate through the Carolinas and Georgia, for the space of 
eight months. 



308 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE. 

Tennessee is the daughter of North Carolina, having been in 
the chartered bounds of the colony, and also reckoned a part of the 
independent confederated State, until the year 1791, when she was 
reckoned one of the territories of the United States ; and having 
received many of its earliest settlements and strongest reinforce- 
ments from the old North State, and from the original stock in Ire- 
land and their descendants in the Middle States. The beautiful 
fields along the Holston and Clinch, and the charming valleys, al- 
lured the eai'ly emigrants by the same inducements as charmed and 
captivated the wanderers from Ireland and Pennsylvania, to fix their 
abodes between the Yadkin and the Catawba. 

The phrases — " w^estern counties " — " mountains " — " mountain 
men " — " Washington County," as used during the invasion of 
the Carolinas, by the King's forces, had reference to sections of 
country now in, or bordering upon the State of Tennessee. Fergu- 
son was in pursuit of the soldiers of these regions, when he visited 
Rutherford county, and sent his insulting message ; and on the 
Wataga, the forces began to assemble that gave him the fatal an- 
swer at King's Mountain. 

The troubles and trials of the first settlement we can scarcely 
glance at, nor in the present connection is it necessary, they being 
in kind and circumstances altogether similar to those of the pioneers 
of the w^estern part of the mother State, with this only exception, 
they were farther removed from market, and from the influence of 
royal authority either in church or state. The wide ranges for cat- 
tle and for game, were the first inducements to settle on the Hols- 
ton ; and the time of the first cabin and the name of the pioneer 
will probably never be known. Next to this influence, w^as the 
policy of giving bounty for military service, in wild lands ; and 
Carolina gave a value to the forests of her western wilds by re- 
warding the labors and exposure of her sons, with titles to lands, 
that might become a home to them or their descendants. So rapid 
was. the influx of enterprising men, particularly about the close of 
the Revolutionary war, that an effort was made in the years 



EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE. 309 

1784-5, to form a State by the name of Franklin. This movement 
was prematm-e rather than uncalled for; and in 1791, a territory 
was set off, and ultimately a state was organized by the name of 
Tennessee, the Indian appellation of the principal river. Meck- 
lenburg, Rov:an, Orange and Granville Counties, North Carolina, 
sent forth crowds of emigrants, and numerous ministers in their train. 
The family of the Polks, so numerous and so noted in the time of 
the Revolution, all but one branch, emigrated, and cast their lot in 
with the bold spirits that sought a home in the great valley of the 
Mississippi. The old Carolina names are numerous in Tennessee. 

To the great crowds from Carolina were joined many families of 
the Scotch-Irish race from Virginia; and from Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey. These collected families of the same race, but differ- 
ent parts of the United States, gave a tone to the rising population 
of the State, which all the influx of other races from other regions 
has only modified. The Scotch-Irish and their descendants may not 
now be a majority in the State ; they may perhaps be a minority ; 
but the character impressed by their predecessors will remain for 
ages, perhaps for ever — enterprise, independence, and a desire for 
improvement. The church, the school-house, and the college, grew 
up with the log cabins ; and the principles of religion were pro- 
claimed, and the classics taught where glass windows were unknown, 
and books were carried in bags upon pack-horses. 

The first minister of rehgion, that is known to have preached in 
Tennessee, was a Presbyterian by the name of Cummins, from Vir- 
ginia, who accompanied the expedition from Carolina against the 
Cherokees in 1776. As he passed through the Holston settlements, 
he preached in the forts and stations, those places of defence and of 
instruction, and, for a time, of public worship. Among the Scotch- 
Irish that settled West Pennsylvania, Carolina, Virginia, and enter- 
ed the wilderness of Tennessee, and were gathered into forts and 
stations, so often made the opportunities of dissipation, it was no 
uncommon thing for those gatherings to be improved for instruct- 
ing children, and for seasons of religious worship. Mr. Cummins 
did not remain long in Tennessee, neither did he organize any 
churches at that time. 

The first minister that took his abode in Tennessee, was the Rev. 
Samuel Doak ; and as he is identified with the history and progress 
of sound learning and religion in North Carolina, west of the Blue 
Ridge, a few particulars concerning his early training and the la- 
bors of his maturer years cannot be improper. His parents, Sam- 
uel Doak and Jane Mitchell, emigrated very young from the North 



310 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

of Ireland, and took their abode in Chester county, Pennsylvania. 
At the time of their marriage, they were both members of the 
church ; and soon after that event they emigrated to Virginia, and 
settled in Augusta county, in the bounds of New Providence con- 
gregation. They were both of that party called the Old Side in dis- 
tinction from that called the New Side, which two then divided the 
Presbyterian church. Their son, Samuel, was born August, 1749. 
He remained with his parents, and worked on the farm till he was 
sixteen years old. At that time he was admitted member of the 
church in full communion ; and soon after commenced a course of 
classical study with Mr. Robert Alexander, who resided about two 
miles from his father's house. This grammar-school was soon after 
removed two or three miles • further, to about the place where the 
Seceder meeting-house, called Old Providence, now stands. The 
school was taught by a Mr. Edmondson, who afterwards studied 
medicine. About this time the school came more immediately 
under the charge of the pastor, the Rev. John Brown, who having 
served the church of New Providence some forty -four years, re- 
moved to Kentucky, and lies buried near Pisgah church. By Mr. 
Brown the school was removed to Pleasant Hill, within about a 
mile of his dwelling, and about the same distance north of the vil- 
lage of Fairfield. While here, Mr. Ebenezer Smith, tlie brother of 
John B. and Samuel Stanhope Smith, was employed as teacher. 
A Mr. Archibald succeeded Mr. Smith, and William Graham suc- 
ceeded Mr. Archibald. At this time the Presbytery of Hanover 
adopted the school. From near Fairfield it was removed to Timber 
Ridge ; and from thence to near Lexington ; and is now Washing- 
ton College, in Lexington, Virginia. 

Li Oct., 1773, Samuel Doak entered Princeton College and re- 
mained two years. Returning to Virginia he was married to Esther 
Montgomery, sister of the Rev. John Montgomery, whose family 
belonged to New Providence ; and shortly after became tutor in 
Hampden Sydney College in Prince Edward county. Here, for 
about two years, he pursued the study of divinity under the direc- 
tion of the Rev. John B. Smith, the President of the College. 
Being licensed by the Hanover Presbytery, after preaching in Vir- 
ginia for a short time, he removed to the Holston settlement, in 
what is now Sullivan county, Tennessee. Not finding this a suita- 
ble field for the designs of education he had in view, he removed in 
the course of a year or two to the settlement on Little Limestone, 
in Washington county, purchased a farm, and on his own land built 
a small church, and log college, and founded Salem congregation. 



EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE. 311 

His institution was incorporated by the Legislature of North Caro- 
lina, in 1788, under the name of " Martin Academy j" and is the 
first literary institution that was established in the great valley of 
the Mississippi. In 1795 it was changed into a college, and receiv- 
ed the name of" Washington." From the incorporation of Martin 
Academy till 1818, Mr. Doak continued the President of the Insti- 
tution ; and his elders of Salem congregation formed a part of the 
Board of Trustees. He procured for his institution a small library 
in Philadelphia, caused it to be transported in sacks on pack-horses, 
across the mountains, and thus formed the nucleus of the library at 
Washington College. The brick buildings overlook the site of the 
log college ; but long must it be before the enlarged institution can 
equally overshadow the usefulness of the log academy and college 
that for a time supplied the opportunities for education for ministers, 
lawyers and doctors, in the early days of Tennessee, and still is 
sending out its stream. 

Having organized a number of churches in the county in which 
he lived, also Bethel and Timber Ridge in Greene county, about 
the year 1818 he resigned the Presidency of Washington College 
in favor of his son. Rev. John M. Doak, M.D,, and removed to 
Bethel- Here he opened an academy to prepare youth for college, 
and named it Tusculura ; and passed the remainder of his days in 
usefulness and honor. Under his son, Samuel W. Doak, the acade- 
my has grown into a flourishing" college. Says a gentleman who 
knew him well — " His praise is in all our churches. During the 
Revolutionary war he was a warm, decided and uniform friend to 
civil and religious liberty, took part in the defence of his country, 
was a member of the convention that in 1784-5 gave rise to the 
insurrectionary state of Franklin j was upon the committee that re- 
ported an article of its constitution, making provision for the support 
of learning ; and to the close of life was still its devoted servant, 
advocate, and patron. A rigid opposer of innovation in religious 
tenets ; very old school in all his notions and actions ; uncompro- 
mising in his love of the truth, and his hostility to error or heresy ; 
a John Knox in his character, fearless, firm, nearly dogmatical 
and intolerant ; but no one has been more useful to church or state, 
except it be Hall or Caldwell in N. C, or Waddell in South Caro- 
lina and Georgia. A volume would not exhaust the incidents of 
his life." 

About the same time that M. Doak settled in Tennessee, Rev. 
Samuel Houston, reared in the same congregation, and at the same 
school, took his residence in Washington county. After a few 



312 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

years he returned to Virginia, and lived to a good old age in Rock- 
bridge county. Ha\ing been a soldier in the battle at Guilford 
Court-house, and ranking among the bravest of the brave, there 
can be no doubt of his love of American liberty. While living in 
Tennessee he took an active part in public matters, and was a con- 
spicuous member of the Franklin convention. A brother and other 
connexions settled near Houston's station in Blount county ; and his 
co-emigrants formed Providence church at Maryville. The name 
of Houston is familiar in Texas. 

The Rev. Hezekiah Balch and Rev. Samuel Carrick came to Ten- 
nessee about the same time ; both were members of Hanover Pres- 
bytery. Mr. Balch from Pennsylvania, Donegal Presbytery, formed 
one of the original members of Orange, and Mr. Carrick had been 
ordained by Hanover Presbytery, in whose bounds he labored for a 
time. These gentlemen met undesignedly in 1789, in the settle- 
ment where Lebanon church now is. Mr. Carrick had sent an ap- 
pointment to preach, and on a short notice a great crowd assembled 
to hear the strange minister. Mr. Balch came that day. The place 
chosen for preaching was a large Indian mound at the junction of 
Holston and French Broad. Mr. Carrick courteously yielded the 
precedency to Mr. Balch as being the older man. After listening 
to the sermon, he observed " that he had selected the same subject, 
and as it was not yet, and could not be exhausted, he would still 
preach upon it." After preaching, the ordinance of Baptism was 
administered. Mr. Balch assisted in the organization of churches ; 
under his patronage Greenville College was founded and rose to 
usefulness. Mr. Carrick organized Lebanon church, and also the 
church in Knoxville. He was the first President of Blount College 
in that place, and finished a life of usefulness in 1808, very sud- 
denly. For want of memoranda little can here be said of these 
men, whose lives afforded matter of great interest to the Christian 
public, and must hold a prominent place in a correct history of Ten- 
nessee. Says a gentleman who knew him — " Rev. Samuel Carrick, 
equally orthodox, and not less learned or devoted to the service of 
his master," — he is running a parallel with Mr. Doak, — " was yet 
more liberal, tolerant, and refined. He had a great deal of urbanity, 
much of the suaviter in modo, less of the fortiter in re, dressed neat- 
ly, behaved courteously, grave, polite, genteel, in short he was a 
model of an old-fashioned Southern gentleman, and had been evi- 
dently (as all Presbyterian clergymen of that day were, and ought 
still to be) icell raised^ 

About the same time a son of the first minister of Sugar Creek, 



EMIGRATION TO TENNESSEE. 313 

after preaching for a time in the church of his father, removed to 
West Tennessee, and settled near where Nashville now is, on the 
Cumberland river. A man of fine talents and capable of close 
thought, he did the cause of religion much service. In the lat- 
ter part of his life he had some difficulties that hindered, for a 
time, his usefulness, but which served to draw forth the friendly in- 
fluence and unqualified approbation of General Jackson, who was 
not unacquainted with Sugar Creek and its recollections. Mr. 
Craighead lies buried near the Hermitage. 

The above short notices are given merely to show the connection 
of the churches in Tennessee with those in Carolina and Virginia, 
to the first for the most emigrants, and to the second for most 
ministers ; and also to say, that there are a variety of incidents con- 
nected with the first settlements, that must be, if preserved, of ex- 
ceeding interest to succeeding generations. 

Abingdon Presbytery was formed August, 1785, its first meeting 
being held at Salem. A well written history of that Presbytery, and 
those formed from it, would comprise a history of the struggles and 
tempests of the Presbyterian church, w^hich were felt in all their 
force in Tennessee, before the surface of the ocean was agitated 
around Philadelphia, as will be seen by a reference to the minutes 
of the Synod of North Carolina, in the preceding chapter. 

We shall close this short chapter, by giving the names of the first 
trustees of three of the Colleges : — . 

1st. Washington College : — Rev. Messrs. Samuel Doak, Charles 
Cummins, Edward Crawford, Robert Henderson and Gideon Black- 
burn : — Messrs. Jonathan Cottom, Alexander Matthews, John Nelson, 
Henry Nelson (father of two preachers, Kelso Nelson and David 
Nelson), John McAllister and John Blois, who were elders of Salem 
church; and Messrs. Joseph Anderson, John Sevier, Landon Carter, 
Daniel Kennedy, Leroy Taylor, John Tipton, Wm. Cooke, Archibald 
Roane, James Hamilton, John Rhea, Samuel Mitchell, Jesse Payne, 
James Aiken, Wm. Hott, Wm. Chester, David Deaderick and John 
W^addell. 

2d. Of Blount College : — Rev. Samuel Carrick, President, 
Messrs. James White, Francis Alexander Ramsey, George McNutt 
and John Adair, elders in Mr. Carrick's churches ; and Messrs. 
AVilliam Blount, Daniel Smith, David Campbell, Joseph Anderson, 
John Sevier, Alexander Kelly, W^m. Cooke, Willie Blount, Joseph 
Hamilton, Archibald Roane, Charles McClung, George Ruolstone 
and Robert Houston. 

3d. Greenville College : — Rev. Messrs. Hezekiah Balch, Samuel 



314 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Doak, James Balch, Samuel Carrick, Robert Henderson and Gideon 
Blackburn ; and Messrs. A. Roan, Joseph Hamilton, Wm. Cooke, 
Daniel Kennedy, Landon Carter, Joseph Harden, John Rhea and 
John Sevier. 

The efforts for literature and morals in Tennessee, are not sur- 
passed in any of the western or southwestern States, and they compare 
advantageously with any of her older sisters. There is much pure 
religion and vital goodness in Tennessee, 



REV. JAMES HALL. 315 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

REV. JAMES HALL, D.D., AND THE CHURCHES IN IREDELL. 

Melchizedek was a king, and a priest of the Most High God. 
Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, led, for once at least, a military 
expedition, and on his retm-n from a complete victory received the 
blessing of the king of Salem, whom the Apostle set forth as a type 
of Christ the Lord, the author and finisher of Faith. In the war of 
the American Revolution there were many young men to be found 
in the ranks of our armies, and in the prisons of the enemy, who, 
after hazarding their lives for their country, entered the ministry 
and spent their days in preaching the everlasting gospel of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, — such as Hunter of Carolina, and Marshall, 
and Houston, and Lyle of Virginia. There were also many clergy- 
men that went with the armies to act as chaplains, and displayed in 
the various dangers and exposures of the camp and a soldier's life, 
the cool collected bravery of men at peace with themselves and with 
their God, and engaged in a good cause, — such as McCaule of Cen- 
tre, afterwards of South Carolina, who was beside General Davidson 
when he fell at Cowan's Ford ; some of whom were made a sacrifice 
to their country's safety — as Rosborough of New Jersey. But there 
is not perhaps another instance of a man, a licensed preacher of the 
gospel, that took part in military expeditions, and commanded com- 
panies, and still retained the character and maintained the dignity 
and office of a minister of the gospel, beside that of James Hall of 
Iredell, the preacher and the soldier. There were some ministers 
that laid aside their office for a military command, and never re- 
sumed it, as Muhlenburg of Pennsylvania, and Thruston of Virginia. 
But James Hall performed both offices, a military commander and 
a preacher of righteousness ; was acceptable in both as a young man, 
and died at an advanced age a minister of the gospel. Said Dr. 
Robinson of Poplar Tent, " when a boy at school at Charlotte, I saw" 
James Hall pass through the town, with his three-cornered hat and 
long sword, the captain at the head of a company, and chaplain of 
the regiment." An amalgamation of characters and offices justified 
only by special emergencies, and to be successfully attempted only 
by few. Born, of Scotch-Irish parentage, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 



316 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

August 22cl, 1744, and removed by them to North Carolina, when 
about eight years old, he grew up in the upper part of Rowan, now 
Iredell, in the bounds of the congregation to w^hich he afterwards 
was pastor during his whole ministerial life of thirty-eight years. 

The first grants of land, in that part of the country, bear date 
about the time that the family of Dr. Hall emigrated to Carolina, as 
may be seen from a grant in the possession of Col. Allison, whose 
tract was perhaps the second that was located. The name of Gran- 
ville, by his deputy, is affixed. The settlements along Fourth Creek 
and South Yadkin, from w^hich the congregations of Bethany, Tabor, 
Fourth Creek or Statesville, and Concord, were ultimately formed, 
all being called Fourth Creek for a length of time, were of the 
names of Harris, Alexander, Hill, Luckey, Bone, King, Patterson, 
Shnipe, Henry, Morrison, Johnson, McKnight, Stevenson, Watts, 
Hall, Boyd, Milligan, Adams, Scroggs, McLean, Allison, Purviance, 
Warson, Ireland, Sloan, McLelland, Potts, Snoddy, Murdock, Bell, 
and Archibald. Coming from Pennsylvania here, these people 
naturally looked to the Synod of Philadelphia, and the Presbyteries 
of which it was composed, for their ministers ; and being many of 
them pious people, their " supplications" for ministerial labor ap- 
pear very early on the records of the Synod. In the year 1753, the 
following minute was made, viz. : — " The supplications from Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina w^ere considered, and the Synod orders 
Mr. McMordie to supply the vacancies in those parts for ten w^eeks, 
or longer if he find it needful, and that he pay a greater regard to 
the larger societies that have supplicated this Synod from time to 
time, and at the same time do what he can to promote the benefit 
of younger settlements, and that he set out the 1st of July next, and 
that Mr. Donaldson, in like manner, supply the same back parts, 
and continue there for ten weeks or as much longer as he thinks fit, 
and that he shall set out the 1st of October. The Synod recom- 
mends it to Messrs. McMordie and Donaldson to show a special 
regard to the vacancies of North Carolina, especially betwixt the 
Atkin (Yadkin) and Catawba Rivers, in giving them a considerable 
part of the time they spend in those parts." This commission cov- 
ered not only Fourth Creek, but the neighborhoods that formed the 
old churches of Concord Presbytery, all of which had been com- 
menced previous to this date. In 1755, there is the following 
order — " That Mr. Donaldson supply the back inhabitants of Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina, at least three months next fall ; and that 
he in particular pay a regard to the supplications that were laid be- 
fore this Synod by some of these back inhabitants. That Mr. Wil- 



I REV. JAMES HALL. 317 

son supply them in like manner for three months next winter ; and 
Mr. McKennan for three months next spring." Considering the 
small number of preachers in the Synod, and the great number of 
vacancies requiring aid in Pennsylvania, as well as south of the 
Potomac, this supply of nine months was liberal. In 1757 it was 
ordered, " That Mr. Millar supply the following settlements in order 
in the fall, each one Sabbath day, viz., Gather's (Thyatira), Osborn's 
(Centre), Morison's (Rocky River), Jersey's on Atkin, Buffler's, 
Hawfield's and Baker's settlements. And that Mr. Craig supply 
the same one Sabbath day in the spring." These Sabbaths, one in 
the fall and the other in the spring, were great days in the settle- 
ments, and people gathered from their dispersed homes and followed 
the preachers, eager to catch something that should be their scrip- 
tural food for the long abstinence to come. 

In the year 1755, we find in the minutes of the Synod of New 
York, that the brethren composing that energetic body, were not 
unmindful of the southern vacancies. Beside constituting the Pres- 
bytery of Hanover, they passed the following order, viz. : " Upon 
sundry petitions from various parts of North Carolina, setting forth 
their distressing circumstances for want of a preached gospel among 
them, and requesting help from this synod, Messrs. John Brainerd 
and Elihu Spencer are appointed to take a journey thither before 
winter, and supply the vacant congregations there, and in parts ad- 
jacent, for six months, or as long as they shall think necessary ; 
and the appointment for supplies for Mr. Spencer's congregation is 
referred till to-morrow." 

After the Synods of New York and Philadelphia were united, in 
the year 1758, the supply of the southern vacancies claimed their 
attention ; missionaries were sent that were so acceptable, that 
numerous calls came up to Synod for them, to be located as settled 
pastors. In the year 1765 is the following minute, — " a call for 
the Reverend Mr. Spencer from Cathy's settlement (Thyatira) and 
Fourth Creek, which was presented to him ; also a supplication for 
supplies from the inhabitants of North Carolina, living between the 
waters of Yadkin and Catawba rivers, and particularly for the re- 
moval of Mr. Spencer and Mr. McWhorter to settle among them." 
Then follow the applications from Bethel and Poplar Tent, New 
Providence and the Six Mile Spring, Hawfields, and Little River, 
and from Long Canes in South Carolina. " In consequence of sun- 
dry applications from North Carolina for supplies, the Synod ap- 
pointed Messrs. Nathan Kerr, George Duffield, William Ramsay, 
David. Caldwell, James Lattar, and Robert McMordie, to go there 



318 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

as soon as they can conveniently, and each of them to tarry half a 
year in these vacant congregations, as prudence may direct." 

Fourth Creek church was organized by the Mr. Elihu Spencer 
mentioned in the two preceding minutes, and embraced the inhabit- 
ants between the South Yadkin and the Catawba rivers. This took 
place some time in the year 1764, or early in the year 1765, when 
the bounds of all the congregations were settled. From all the 
efforts made for settled pastors, there was but one congregation, 
that of Rocky River, that could obtain any preaching except from 
missionaries, for many years ; and Fourth Creek had no regular 
pastor till James Hall, who grew up in the bounds, became their 
minister in 1778. From the records of Hanover Presbytery, it ap- 
pears that Mr. Craighead was directed by his Presbytery to supply 
Fourth Creek two Sabbaths, and IVIr. James Hunt the same number 
of days in the year 1762. 

That these vacancies, some of them at least, expected to con- 
tribute to the support of their ministers, appears from the minutes 
of the Synod in the year 1767. Besides mentioning the reception 
of petitions for supplies from Cathey's settlement (Thyatira), Long- 
Canes, Indian Creek, and Duncan's Creek ; and motions for sup- 
plies for Edenton, Newbern, Fourth Creek, Upper Hico, Haw 
River, Goshen in the forks of Catawba, the south fork of Catawba, 
the forks of Yadkin and Salisbury ; the following record is made, 
viz. : " The following congregations in North Carolina, viz. : Sugar 
Creek, Fishing Creek, Bethel, the Jersey settlement, Centre congre- 
gation. Poplar Tent, and Rocky River, united in a petition for one 
or more of the Rev. Messrs. Spencer, Lewis, McWhorter, and 
James ^Caldwell, to be sent there, promising for their encourage- 
ment that the sum of eighty pounds be paid by any of these con- 
gregations in which he shall choose to spend half of his time, and 
another eighty pounds by the vacant congregations he shall supply." 
Neither of the ministers referred to was willing to accept the call, 
and as Mr. Craighead of Sugar Creek was dead, there was no set- 
tled minister south of the Yadkin for a few years. 

Secluded in the forests of Rowan, alike ignorant of the knowledge 
and the follies of the great world, James Hall grew up under the 
watchful care of pious parents, and the instructions he could receive 
from these faithful and laborious missionaries, whose visits to the 
congregation were, less often than welcome, about once a quarter. 
He *Avas made familiar with the Bible and the Westminster 
catechism in his early days, and his mind stored with the best of 
truth before he could appreciate the excellence of the truth itself, or 



REV. JAMES HALL. 319 

the motives of the pious parents who so assiduously taught him. 
The coming of a missionary was an event of magnitude, an epoch 
in the current of time, in these Carolina settlements of Protestant- 
Irish. He brought news from a far country, for Philadelphia, in 
those days, was at the distance of a horseback journey of two or 
three weeks, and no current of passengers in stages or rail cars, no 
daily or weekly mail, brought the latest information ; he was 
messenger from friends and acquaintances left behind, or coming on ; 
he proclaimed the truth many were desirous of hearing, pouring in 
the oil of grace to the wounded spirit, comforting the bowed down ; 
he administered the ordinances, called the children to c^techual in- 
struction, and viisited the sick. The impressions made by these 
visitations were of the most happy and religious kind, and were 
followed by hopeful conversions. The more important matters of 
discipline and church order were particularly attended to during the 
excursions of the missionaries ; for instance, — in the records of the 
Synod of New York and Philadelphia, in 1756 — " The Synod more 
particularly considering the state of many congregations to the 
southward, and particularly North Carolina, and particularly the 
great importance of having those congregations properly organized, 
appoint the Rev. Messrs. Elihu Spencer and Alexander McWhorter, 
to go as our missionaries for that purpose ; that they form societies, 
help them in adjusting the bounds, ordain elders, administer sealing 
ordinances, instruct the people in discipline, and finally, direct them 
in their after conduct, particularly in what manner they shall proceed 
to obtain the stated ministry, and whatever else may appear useful 
or necessary for those churches, and the future settlement of the 
gospel among them." This mission was fulfilled to>,such entire 
satisfaction that these gentlemen were importuned to settle in 
Carolina ; and Mr. McWhorter was ultimately chosen president of 
the college erected at Charlotte. From the terra of this visit, we 
may consider the bounds of the old churches in Orange and Concord 
Presbyteries as settled, and the sessions as generally duly organized. 
Previous to this the settlements acted independently in their religious 
matters. At this time numbers were united into one congi-egation. 
It was probably during this visit that Mr. Hall made profession of 
religion, as it is stated that he united with the church when he was 
about twenty years old. Of the exercises of his mind previously to 
that event little more is known than that he had been a subject of 
religious impressions, from term to term, commencing in his eighth 
year. In a paper drawn up by him in the year 1787, it appears that 
from his first entrance on a religious life, he was diligent and faith- 



320 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ful in self-examination ; that his conduct, and motives, and feehngs, 
were all often tested by the word of God. His enjoyments in 
religion were often sweet, and his hope of salvation strong. " Not 
long," says he, " after my first comforts, I felt a strong desire 
towards the ministry of the Gospel. Of this I considered it in vain 
to think, when I took a view of my family circmnstances. My 
father, at that time aged, and in a declining state of health, my 
two elder brothers married, and my two younger brothers were in a 
measure children — so that as a means, I was almost the only support 
of the family, which was in comfortable, but not affluent circum- 
stances. «It was, however, my constant prayer to God, that he 
might, in some way, open a door in the course of his providence, 
that so I might obtain my wished-for object, even when I saw no 
prospect of an answer. After about four years I communicated my 
sentiments to my parents, whom, contrary to my expectations, I 
found willing to support me in a course of study." 

About the time he communicated his wishes to his parents, he 
entered into a solemn covenant with God to devote his ichole life to 
the preaching of the gospel, if he could be suitably qualified by a 
proper preparatory education. 

After it was determined in the family that he should commence a 
course of education for the ministry, a dangerous sickness, with 
other causes, delayed his actually entering upon his studies for 
about a year. During this interval an event, or train of events, oc- 
curred, which caused him bitterness of soul, and which led him ulti- 
mately to determine to spend his life an unmarried man, in direct 
opposition to that tenderness of heart, and affectionate disposition, 
he was known to possess from his earliest boyhood, to his latest 
breath. Attending the wedding of a young friend, he enjoyed to 
a high degree the company of an amiable, pious lady, in all the 
loveliness of youth, rendered more lovely by the excitement of the 
occasion. On his return home, his thoughts were so busied about 
this absent fair one, that he visits her, and frankly declares his 
attachment, and is made very happy in the anticipation of that' 
union she permitted him to hope for. He seemed to have forgotten 
his devotion to the work of the ministry, and his projected educa- 
tion, in the ardor of his first love. As he said afterw^ards, " he 
thought of nothing but the object of his affections, he saw in her 
piety and araiablencss, every quality to make him happy, and he 
revelled in his anticipated felicity." But when he began to reflect 
how he was to dispose of himself for life, he called to mind his for- 
mer purposes, and felt the difficulties in his path. His perplexities 



REV. JAMES HALL. 321 

increased upon reflection. One sabbath, after attending preaching, 
he walked out by himself to indulge in meditation. He thought 
of his having devoted himself to God in the ministry, and the obli- 
gations of that covenant he had voluntarily made and solemnly 
imposed upon himself, to preach the gospel during his whole life, 
if he could be prepared by a suitable education ; that God, on his 
part, had ratified the covenant by opening the way, unexpectedly, 
for his attaining the desired education ; and that he had now rashly 
and voluntarily declined from the object of his prayers and desires, 
and had involved himself in difficulties from which he saw no 
escape. As he was meditating on these things, his former back- 
slidings came up to his recollection one after another, and rushing 
upon him like a mighty torrent overwhelmed him with a sense of 
guilt. His conscience goaded him with agonies inexpressible. 
He stood in amazement, and trembled under the stings of remorse. 
He was afterwards heard to say — that the experience of that day 
had given him some conceptions of the sufferings that could be in- 
flicted on a lost soul by the remembrance of its former guilt, and 
that it might be intoleraBle. He sought an interview with the lady 
and stated the case to her, and by mutual consent, the matrimo- 
nial engagement was dissolved, and he returned to his former pur- 
pose to prepare for preaching the gospel, with an humbled and 
chastened spirit, less inclined to self-dependence, and more fearful 
of sinning against God. This was his first and last effort towards 
the matrimonial life. The scheme of action he proposed to himself, 
and which was carried out by him through life, was not compatible 
with the duties of the head of a family. He saw the wants of his 
countrymen ; he knew little of preachers but as travelling mission- 
aries ; and his devotion to God to preach the gospel his lahole life, 
appeared to him to stand directly in the way of his performing the 
duties of a husband and a father. Had he been a married man he 
might have been more happy, and probably would have been ; he 
might have been as useful, and even more so ; but it would have 
been usefulness of a different kind, and probably very many that 
heard the gospel from his lips in his various long journeys, would 
never have seen his face. In his determination that no matrimo- 
nial engagements should be a barrier to his preconceived purpose 
of preparation for the ministry he is worthy of all praise ; and in 
his determination to hold himself in readiness for a missionary life 
in the state in which he had grown to manhood, he is not lightly 
to be blamed when the vacancies and desolations are surveyed by 
21 



322 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the eye of faith and benevolence, and the little band of laborers are 
numbered up. 

In his twenty-sixth year he commenced the study of the classics, 
and made rapid progress, as his mind was matured, and his appli- 
cation unremitting. He had been accustomed to study by himself, 
and had acquired habits of mental application, while unaided by an 
instructor. When about seventeen years of age, a treatise on 
geometry fell in his way and excited his attention. He applied 
himself to study during his leisure from his daily avocations on the 
farm, till he became possessed of the principles, and master of the 
contents. By the help of the plates he constructed a quadrant with 
which he amused himself and his friends by measuring the height 
of trees, and the distance of objects. The taste for the exact 
sciences acquired by him at this time, in the midst of the labors 
and toils of a farmer's life, remained with him through life. The 
mathematics were his favorite sludy, and such was his estimation 
of them, he could not be persuaded to think favorably of the intel- 
lectual powders of any man who lightly esteemed this branch of 
education, or consider his course of study 'liberal whose progress in 
mathematics w^as small. 

He pursued his collegiate studies at Nassau Hall, Princeton, then 
under the direction of President Witherspoon ; and his proficiency, 
particularly in the exact sciences, attracted the attention of that 
clear-sighted man. He took the bachelor's degree in the year 
1774, in his thirty-first year. Soon after, Dr. Witherspoon ex- 
pressed his desire to have him employed in the college as teacher 
of mathematics. Such a proposition from such a man w'as the 
highest encomium. But however gratifying the offer of employ- 
ment by such a man as Dr. Witherspoon might have been to him, 
the recollection of his early dedication to God for the ministry — of 
the mental agony he had endured, when, by his imprudent matrimo- 
nial engagement, he had, to all appearances, thrown himself out of 
the way of preparation for the sacred office, and the already ad- 
vanced period of his life, together with the great necessity for 
ministers of the gospel in North Carolina, forbade his connection 
with the college as a teacher. 

The theological reading of Mr. Hall was pursued under the di- 
rection of Dr. Witherspoon, that eminent minister and patriot, 
whose views in religion, morality and politics, were thoroughly im- 
bibed by his scholar. The Presbytery of Orange licensed him to 
preach the gospel as a probationer some time between the meeting 
of the general assembly in 1775, and the meeting in 1776 j tradition 



REV. JAMES HALL. 323 

says in the spring of 1776. In the entire loss of the records of the 
Presbytery of this date, we take the following minute from the 
records of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, May 28th, 
1776. " A letter from the Presbytery of Orange was brought in 
and read, informing that they have, since the last Synod, licensed 
Messrs. Robert Archibald, Thomas Harris McCaule, and James 
Hall, to preach the gospel, and requested the Synod to send as 
many supplies as they can to the relief of the numerous vacancies 
in those parts." 

There were at this time the following ministers in North Caro- 
lina, viz. : James Campbell, who commenced his labors among the 
Scotch on Cape Fear, 1756 ; his name appears on the roll of Synod 
in 1746, as member of Newcastle Presbytery: Hugh McAden, who 
visited Duplin County, 1755, as a licentiate of Newcastle Presby- 
tery ; his name first appears on the roll of Synod as member of New- 
castle Presbytery, 1757 ; he was received into Hanover Presbytery, 
1759, October 4th. Henry Pattillo, licensed by Hanover Pres- 
bytery, in 1755, ordained 1758, and accepted a call from Hawfield, 
1765 : James Criswell, licensed by Hanover Presbytery, 1764, and 
^vas ordained pastor of Nutbush, Grassy Creek, and Lower Hico, 
1765 ; DAvro Caldwell, ordained by New Brunswick Presbytery, 
1765, received into Hanover 1767, pastor of Buffalo and Alamance, 
1768 : Joseph Alexander, ordained by Hanover Presbytery, March, 
1768, as pastor of Sugar Creek, having been I'eceived as licentiate 
from Newcastle Presbytery. Hezekl^h James Balch, ordained by 
the Donegal, and reported to Synod 1770, pastor of Poplar Tent. 
These were in connection with Orange Presbytery, which then ex- 
tended over North and South Carolina, and had in all twelve 
members, eight in North Carolina, and four in South Carolina. To 
these may be added Mr. James Tate, who was living in Wilming- 
ton, but not connected with the Presbytery. The congregations 
and neighborhoods that required the labors of a Presbj-terian minis- 
ter, were more than five times that number. It is not wonderful, 
therefore, that numerous invitations to become pastor should be 
given to Mr. Hall ; and that his intention to pursue the study of 
divinity still longer before becoming a pastor, should be overruled 
by the pressing calls for the word of life. 

The neighborhoods composing Fourth Creek church, in the bounds 
of which he had passed his youth, persuaded him to take his resi- 
dence with them, to become their pastor. Some time previously the 
church had been divided, and into three distinct oiganizations ; one 
of which retained the name, the preaching place being at Statesville 
the county seat, — one was called Concord, the place of preaching 



324 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

about six miles west of Statesville, — the other Bethany, the preaching 
place about six miles east of Statesville. On the 8th of April, 1778, 
Mr. Hall was installed pastor of the united congregations of Fourth 
Creek, Concord and Bethany. There is no record of the time of his 
ordination ; it is probable the ordination took place at the time of 
installation. In the records of the Synod of ^ New York and 
Philadelphia, there is no list of the ministers in Orange Presbytery, 
after 1774, till 1780 ; and for the years 1777, 1778, 1779, there 
is no report of any kind. Mr. Hall's name appears on the list given 
for 1780. 

The names of the elders at fourth Creek were. James Barr, 
William Stevenson, John Stevenson,j!\ndrew McEnzie, John 
Murdock, Mussentine Mathews and John McLelland. 

During the exciting scenes of the Revolution, in which he had 
been licensed and ordained, Mr. Hall held the office of pastor of 
these three congregations, which extended from South Yadkin to 
the Catawba, and some members of the congregation coming from 
beyond these rivers ; and after the Revolution he served them till 
the year 1790, when wishing to devote more time to the cause of 
domestic missions than could be consistent with so large a charge, 
he was released from his connection with Fourth Creek and Concord. 
His connection with Bethany continued till his death, July 25th, 
1826, a period of twenty -six years. 

A full account of his actions during the Revolution would fill a 
volume ; his active, enterprising spirit would not let him be neuter ; 
his principles drawn from the Word of God and the doctrines of his 
church, and cultivated by Dr. Witherspoon, carried him with all his 
heart to defend the ground taken by the convention in Mecklenburg, 
May, 1775, and by the Continental Congress in 1776. He gave 
his powers of mind, body and estate in the eause of his country. As 
the citizens would assemble to hear news and discuss the politics of 
those trying times, and were making choice of the side they would 
espouse, Mr. Hall was accustomed to meet with them, and addressing 
them, infused his own spirit and inflamed their love of liberty, and 
strengthened their purpose of maintaining their rights at all hazards. 
The tradition about him, in these cases, is that he was eminently 
successful ; and the fact that there was great unanimity in that sec- 
tion of country, in a measure the effect of his exertions, would of 
itself show that he was both influential and eloquent. 

When the adjacent State, South Carolina, was overrun by the 
British forces, under Cornwallis, Mr. Hall's spirit was stirred within 
him as he heard of the massacres, and plunderings, and battles, and 



-i OiK^kiw^ >^^ Kj^^-*^ 



REV. JAMES HALL. 325 

varied distress and sufferings of the inhalaitants of the upper part 
of the State, from the same stock as himself, of the same re- 
ligious creed, and holding the same general principles of govern- 
ment, and civil and religious liberty. He assembled his flock, 
and addressed them on the occasion. He painted to their view 
in a most thrilling manner the wrongs of his country, and the 
sufferings of their friends and countrymen in the neighboring state, 
and called upon them to take arms in their defence, the defence 
of all that was dear. A company of cavalry, composed of choice 
men, was immediately organized. By general consent he was 
demanded for their leader ; all his objections were overruled, and 
to encourage his countrymen to act j^ther than to talk, he ac- 
cepted the command. In the year 1779, he led them on an ex- 
pedition into South Carolina, of several months' continuance, 
performing the double office of Commander and Chaplain, and 
marched over a large part of the western section of the State. 

During this expedition two of his men were taken prisoners. 
As he could not recover them by force of arms, he made their 
case a subject of prayer, both in private, and in public, with his 
men. In a few days they rejoined the company, having made 
their escape- As their captors lay encamped one night on the 
banks of Broad River, in South Carolina, their sentinel at the 
door of the guard-house, their place of confinement, was observed 
to be drowsy ; they remaining quiet, he fell asleep. Stepping 
noiselessly over the soldier, as he lay with his gun folded in his 
arms, they run for the river. The noise of their plunge called 
the attention of the other sentries ; the alarm is given ; boats are 
manned for pursuit, but the active swimmers reach the opposite 
bank first, and escape their pursuers, to the great joy of the 
praying Captain and the company. 

Going one day on a reconnoitring expedition, accompanied by 
an officer of the company, his friend Mathews, as they emerged 
from a dense forest into an open field, near to and in full view of 
a house, they observed some fifteen or twenty British dragoons 
around the house, some walking about, and some ready mounted. 
In a moment they observed the peril of their situation, from the 
number of the enemy, and the position of the house and open 
fields ; that it was as impossible to escape by flight, as reckless to 
make an attack on ten times their number, fully aware of their 
approach. They halted ; Mathews drew his sword, and turning 
in his saddle towards the wood, waves it as if summoning a com- 
pany to advance. The dragoons take the alarm, and dashing off 



6'2b SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

at full speed, were soon out of sight, leaving our two officers to 
make good their retreat. 

On another occasion there was a call for a volunteer compan}^, to 
break up a nest of tories on the rich lands of the UwhaiTce River, 
in Montgomery county, who were infesting the countiy gi'eatly, 
Mr. Hall attended the meeting of the citizens assembled upon the 
occasion, and delivered them an address full of patriotism and 
feeling. At the close of his speech a greater number offered their 
services than were called for the expedition. 

When it was necessary for the American forces to march into 
the Cherokee country, in Georgia, to quell the Indians, a company- 
was raised in Iredell for that expedition, and Mr. Hall went with 
his friends as chaplain to the anny. During the expedition, which 
lasted about two months, the chaplain offered pviblic prayers very 
regularly morning and evening ; but had but one opportunity of 
preaching. On that occasion he took his stand under a large shady 
tree ; the army, consisting of about four thousand men^ was drawn 
up arovmd him ; the soldiers brought from the neighboring woods, 
each a young sapling, or long branch of a tree, with all the foliage, 
and as they were drawn up around in close ranks, seating them- 
selves on the ground, and resting their shady branches upon the 
earth, they formed a dense shade, and under this novel shelter from 
the sun listened to the sermon. In honor of that first gospel ser- 
mon in the Indian territories, the adjacent country was named 
after the chaplain, Hall county, of which Gainsville is the seat of 
justice. 

Mr. Hall possessed all the attributes necessary for a military 
commander. His fine person, his stature above six feet, his great 
muscular strength and action, rendered his appearance command- 
ing. His courage, both moral and physical, undaunted, he was 
cool in council, intrepid in danger, and decided in action. His 
acquaintance with the mathematics, both scientificajly and practi- 
cally, his great capability for meclianical pursuits and his acquaint- 
ance with the details, and his skill in the operations, enabled him 
to form his plans with readiness and execute them with precision. 
His kind and tender feeling, and enthusiastic love of liberty, hav- 
ing the control of a fine voice and pleasing manner, together with 
his great attention to personal appearance, fitted him to gain and 
to hold the affections of men. His stern morality, undoubted piety 
and practical religion, carried everywhere with him, combined 
with an amiable disposition, called forth the reverence of the good 
and the respect of all. But he delighted not in the warlike camp 



ft 



REV. JAMES HALL. ; 327 

His mission was one of peace in the name of the Prince of peace. 
To encourage his congregations and his countrymen to the defence 
of their rights of conscience and of person, he went with them 
into the midst of wars and fightings ; but he went always as the 
Christian man and minister ; and when that object was gained, he 
dechned mihtary service when offered to him in high places. 

After the skirmish at Cowansford on the Catawba, between the 
forces of Cornwallis and the North Carolina militia, in which his 
fellow licentiate, Thomas H. McCaule, w^as at the side of Gen- 
eral Davidson when he fell, Mr. Hall was singled out by General 
Greene to be commissioned as Brigadier General, to fill the place 
of Davidson. But the proffered honor was declined, not through 
disaffection or timidity. A nobler feeling possessed the heart of 
Mr. Hall — the thought that there were others that could fill that 
post as well as himself, or better, while there were few indeed to 
act in the cause of the gospel to which he had devoted his " \vhole 
life." 

When the war of the Revolution was ended in the independence 
of the United States, Mr. Hall devoted himself, with undivided 
energies and unwavering purpose, to his beloved work, the gospel 
ministry. The effects of the long and harassing war upon the 
churches in the Carolinas were deplorable ; the regular ordinances 
of the gospel had been broken up — discipline neglected, — the 
preached word had become less valued ; some congregations mostly 
broken up, and the vices that ordinarily attend a camp, and are left 
by war, such as drinking, card playing, profanity and the like, ex- 
tensively prevailed. Though Mr. Hall's congregations were not 
in the track of either of the, armies nor the seat of war; and 
though he had exerted himself during the war to sustain religion 
and morality in the congregation and in the camp, the general tone 
of public feeling had evidently declined, and the necessity of great 
efforts in the cause of the gospel to prevent the most melancholy 
effects, was stirring up his spirits to activity, and his heart to zeal 
for God. His efforts met the Divine approbation, and w^ere at- 
tended with his blessing, and resulted in a revival of religion. 

Soon after the war, his charge was greatly blessed ; the atten- 
tion of the people was very generally turned to the subject of re- 
ligion. The meetings were characterized by great solemnity and 
stillness ; and the preaching, for simplicity, earnestness and ten- 
derness, in setting forth the great truths of the gospel. At one 
communion season, about eiglity persons w^ere received into the 
church on the profession of their faith ; at a succeeding commu- 



328 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

nion about sixty more made profession and united with the church. 
This revival w^as confined mostly to the churches in Iredell, there 
being no account of much unusual interest in other parts of the 
Presbytery till after some years. In consequence of the nume- 
rovis calls upon him for ministerial labor, and his own great anxiety 
for the welfare of his fellow men, Mr. Hall's labors were inces- 
sant ; and under his continued preaching his health failed, and 
symptoms of a pulmonary consumption became alarming. By the 
advice of physicians he was induced to cease from his ministerial 
labors, and seek for renewed health in a sea voyage. Owing to 
head winds, his voyage from Charleston, South Carolina, to Phila- 
delphia, was long and boisterous, and proved, on that account, 
more advantageous. After attending upon the meeting of the Sy- 
nod of New York and Philadelphia, he returned home with renewed 
health and spirits, to engage in his ministry. The records of Sy- 
nod make this his first attendance to be in 1786; the traditions 
would place it somewhat earlier. He was on the Committee of 
Synod, appointed to prepare a plan for the division of the Synod 
in preparation for the formation of the general assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church. But as there is evidently an omission in 
the minutes of the preceding years, liis first attendance might 
have been earlier. 

The Synod of the Carolihas held its first meeting in 1788, at 
Centre Church ; during the next year measures were taken to re- 
lease Mr. Hall from the charge of Bethany and Concord churches, 
which took effect in 1790. In the year 1793, tlie year that his 
amiable successor, Lewis Wilson, was ordained and placed 
over these beloved churches, he commenced his missionary ex- 
cursions, under the direction of a commission of Synod. Besides 
a great many short excursions which he was in the habit of mak- 
ing in the counties nearer home, he performed fourteen long and 
toilsome mission^, either under the direction of the commission 
of Synod, or by order and arrangement of the General Assembly. 
His reports were often made in writing, and some of them re- 
corded on the minutes of Synod. His mission to the Natches, 
the pioneer of Protestant efforts in the lower part of the 
valley of the Mississippi, was commenced in the Fall of 1800, 
under a commission of the General Assembly. The Synod ap- 
pointed two companions for this mission, which was expected to 
continue for eight months, James H. Bowman and William 
Montgomery. The report of these missionaries, made to the 
Synod of 1801, was received with a high degree of satisfaction. 



REV. JAMES HALL. 329 

An account of this mission was published by Mr. Hall in the 
newspapers of the day, and was read with great interest, as being 
the best description ever given of that part of the southern coun- 
try, in which he had spent about nine months. 

The extracts from the records of the Synod of the Carolinas, 
which form part of this volume, contain some of the more interest- 
ing parts of Mr. Hall's reports, especially those that are of abiding 
interest ; particularly his method of preparing questions on the 
Confession of Faith, and instructing the congregations he visited 
on his mission ; his account of his visit to Lincoln county in 1809 ; 
and his report of a mission on the Cape Fear ; and his visit to 
Colin Lindsay and Angus McDermaid. These will be read with 
great interest by multitudes now living ; and will assist the general 
reader to a better understanding of the revival that spread over the 
country from 1802 to 1806, and onward, the effects of which are 
distinctly visible throughout the State. 

His exertions in the cause of Domestic missions are worthy of 
all praise, and have conferred upon the State and the southern coun- 
try lasting obligations. ~ 

He attended the sessions of the General Assembly in Philadel- 
phia sixteen times, as delegate of the Presbytery of Orange, and 
was once the moderator of that venerable "body. Travelling by 
private conveyance, in his chair (or sulky), he embraced the op- 
portunity afforded for preaching on his journey, and made his trips 
to Philadelphia domestic mission^ : and by taking different routes 
much enlarged his acquaintance and the sphere of his usefulness. 
In one of these excursions, being driven into a house by a storm 
of rain, and detained all night, he kindly and courteously intro- 
duced the subject of religion. The family had hitherto been 
utterly careless on the subject of their salvation ; but that night 
they were deeply convicted of their sinfulness. The servant of 
God passed on, unaware, perhaps, of having accomplished anything 
for his Lord. A Metliodist minister who became acquainted with 
the circumstance related to a friend of Dr. Hall that the impres- 
sions made that night were never effaced ; that shortly three of the 
members professed faith in Christ ; and one after another the 
whole family entered the visible church. 

In a sermon, while urging his congregation to religious conver- 
sation, he mentioned the circumstance, that a private conversation 
he had with two young men before he became a preacher, resulted 
in their hopeful conversion ; and they both became ministers of 
the gospel. These instances are mentioned as showing the effect 



330 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

produced by his kind and affectionate manner in introducing a 
faithful conversation on the subject of rehgion. 

One sphere of usefuhiess in which Mr. Hall excelled, was the 
education of young men. He must have commenced the -work of 
superintendence, for he did not confine himself to the teaching of 
a classical school, very soon after his licensure, as the certificate 
given to Humphrey Hunter, afterwards a minister of the gospel, 
says he had been a student at Clio's Nursery from August, 1778, 
to October, 1779. The institution was located on. Snow Creek, in 
a pious neighborhood, that formed an important part of Bethany 
church and congregation. This he superintended with care, and 
through its agency brought out many useful men, that might. not 
otherwise have obtained an education, — as the Rev. Richard King, 
of Tennessee, esteemed the man of the finest powers of mind 
ever trained in Western Carolina, — Dr. Waddel, of South Caro- 
lina, and Judges Laurie, Harris, and Smith. 

To remedy the inconvenience felt by those unable to meet the 
expense of attending a northern college, and yet wishing to acquire 
a knowledge of the sciences, he purchased a philosophical appa- 
ratus, and opened an " Academy of the Sciences," at his own 
house, himself being the sole professor. This institution was 
continued for many years ; and, previously to the establishment of 
the University, was considered the best scientific school in the 
State. A large number of eminent men received their scientific 
education there ; besides a number of ministers, who studied theo- 
logy under his direction,whose names will be hereafter given, there 
were Andrew Pickens, Israel Pickens, late Governor of Alabama, 
Hon. Joseph Pearson, and Judge Williams, of Tennessee. 

To promote useful knowledge in his congregation, he formed a 
class of young people to meet him every Saturday, to take lessons 
in grammar. To remedy the want of books, which threatened 
the ruin of his plans, he wrote out a system of grammar, and had 
manuscript copies circulated among the members of the class. 
He afterwards published through the press, and circulated it ex- 
tensively. 

He founded^ a circulating library in his congregation, which 
became eminently useful ; and encouraged debating societies 
among the young people, sometimes attending, and often availing 
himself of the opportunity of laying before them some written 
communication on important subjects. 

His efforts in leading young men into the ministry, were emi- 
nently successful. His character for talents and piety, and public 



REV. JAMES HALL. 331 

spirit ; his soundness as a Theologian ; his great facihty in im- 
parting instruction ; and the pleasure he took in the employment ; 
and his well selected library, caused his house to become a school 
of the prophets, from which came out some of the best ministers 
in our southern Zion. The following catalogue will show the im- 
portance of this school of divinity : Rev. Messrs. Robert Hall (his 
brother), James McEwin (his brother-in-law), Daniel Thatcher, 
Ga. ; Francis Cummins, D.D., Ga. ; John Brown, D.D., Ga. ; 
James Blytlie, D.D., Ken. ; J. M. Wilson, D.D., Rocky River ; 
George McWhorter, S.C. ; John Robinson, D.D., Poplar Tent ; J.' 
Andrews, Ohio ; James Adams, S.C. ; Thomas Price, S.C. ; James 
Mcllhcney, S.C. ; Wm. Barr, D.D. ; Andrew Flinn, D.D., Charles- 
ton ; John Bowman, Tenn. ; James Bowman, Tenn. ; Thomas J. 
Hall, Tenn. ; Joseph D. Kilpatrick, N.C. ; and Thomas Neely, 
S.C. These have now, with scarce an exception, passed away 
from the earthly vineyard ; but their memorial is with us ; they 
have rested from their labors, and their works do follow them. 
Their history will show that Iredell county has been the nursery 
of good men, and the birth-place of the most laborious ministers of 
the last generations. 

The views Mr. Hall had of the proper preparation for the labors 
of the gospel ministry, and his own experience, so eminently suc- 
cessful, of the advantage of training the young for the work, led 
him to desire a seminary for the ^purpose. The motion in the 
Assembly of the Presbyterian church to found a Theological 
school, met his hearty approbation and co-operation. He greatly 
desired a more southern location than Princeton, with the hope that 
one would unite all the South ; but when it was determined that 
Princeton should be the place, he united in giving it existence 
and stability, by giving to its funds, by donations to the library, 
by riding extensively as an agent in its favor, and by remember- 
ing it in his will with a bequest of two hundred and fifty acres of 
valuable land in Tennessee. 

He was zealous and active in the circulation of the Bible. As 
a delegate, he was present at the formation of the American Bible 
Societj'', and became a life member by the contribution of thirty 
dollars. On the formation of the North Carolina State Bible 
Society, he was elected the first president, and in his attendance 
on its meetings gave an example of his punctuality in attending 
upon appointments, and in meeting with those ecclesiastical bodies 
with which he was connected. His residence was about one 
hundred and fifty-six miles from Raleigh. On a certain occasion, 



332 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

setting off to attend an annual meeting, a violent storm of rain 
and snow came on, the first day of his journey, and continued all the 
way through. A legal friend meeting him on the way, in surprise 
he accosted the venerable minister : " Where are you going, in 
this storm ?" " To attend the Bible Society in Raleigh." 
" Where were you yesterday ?" " I travelled about thirty miles ; 
where were you ?" " O, I was lying by ; it was too bad to 
travel." On his arrival in Raleigh, he found himself the only 
delegate present. The inclemency of the weather rendered it 
" too bad to travel." 

He attended all the meetings of the Synod of the Carolinas 
from 1788 to 1812, but one, and was the last moderator; the 
Synod of North Carolina was then constituted, and on its sessions 
he attended with punctuality, till age and infirmity took away his 
ability to travel. His attendance on Presbyterial meetings was 
equally exact ; his various missions being so assigned, as, with 
the exception of his trip to the Natches, to permit his meeting 
with his brethren in the judicatories. 

In his reproofs he was generally very kind and tender, and 
spake as one entreating or instructing ; sometimes his boldness 
and decision were felt in the tone of authority, and severity of 
manner, in which he addressed bold transgressors. To them he 
seemed rough and unreasonable, and sometimes angiy, especially 
when his indignation was roused. During one of his missions 
to the eastern part of the State, he accepted a very polite invita- 
tion to tea, after divine service on the Sabbath. The residence 
of his host was on an eminence, commanding a beautiful view of 
the low grounds, and of the river that wound its way towards the 
ocean. After a little time he observed a boat sailing along the 
stream, and soon after, that the men were hauling a seine. Turn- 
ning to the gentleman, he inquires, " Whose seine is that ?" " It 
is mine, sir." " Is this the way you keep the Sabbath ?" " Oh, 
it is the fishing season ; I will give God iVlmighty another day in 
a slacker time of the year." Mr. Hall, rising and taking his hat, 
" I cannot consent to remain under the roof of a man that treats 
his God in that way," with a bow, left the house, and returned to 
his former lodgings. 

Ardor, tenderness of affection, and strong sympathy, character- 
ized the preaching of this successful minister of God. His man- 
ner was, in part, his natural temperament speaking out, and «i 
part the fruit of his own distressing experience. An occasional 
depression of spirits was the, vice of his. constitution ; and a deep 



REV. JAMES HALL. 333 

conviction of the sinfulness of sin and his ov^rn worthlessness, the 
characteristic of his rehgious experience. Tlie influence of both 
these was occasionally felt at the same time, and produced a state 
of distress and degree of unhappiness not to be described. About 
the time of his licensure, a season of mental depression and heart- 
sickness so overwhelmed him, that for the space of about a year, 
he considered it to be little short of blasphemy, and a direct insult 
to God, for such a polluted, undone, hopeless wretch as himself to 
offer to preach the gospel. These seasons occasionally returned 
upon him throughout his whole life, so full of activity and useful- 
ness. Once at least, he was oppressed when on a mission ; his 
friend Mathews, that served with him in the war, found him in 
Kentucky, so overwhelmed with melancholy and a sense of his 
sinfulness, that in compassion he took him under his charge and 
conducted him to his home. Even in his old age he felt the gath- 
ering of the cold clouds that shut out his Maker's face and hid the 
Saviour's beauty. At one time he intermitted his pastoral labors 
about a year and a half. Spiritual darkness overhung his mind ; 
he was always complaining that "(rOtZ had hid his face from hifn ;" 
■his own sinfulness was ever present with him, and he could not 
get a view of Christ as the Lord his righteousness ; and he refused 
to lead the devotions of his people. He attended the house of God 
and joined in the worship carried on by the elders, and could occa- 
sionally be induced to take a part by leading in prayer or giving a 
short exhortation from the clerk's' stand in front and below the 
pulpit, esteeming himself too great a wretch to preach from the 
sacred desk, or even to enter it. 

" Won't you preach for us to-day ?" said the eldership, one Sab- 
bath, when, in this state of mind, he appeared at Bethany among 
a large assembly of people. " Oh no — no — no — it is impossible !" 
One of the elders of Fourth Creek, William Stevenson, was 
later than usual that morning. Advanced in life, a convert under 
the preaching of Whitefield, grown to full manhood in piety, the 
congregation loved the elder, and from his small stature, and fer- 
vency in prayer, called him "little Gabriel," — they thought he 
, approached nearer the throne than anybody else in the congregation. 
The ot\ier elders waited for him. When Mr. Stevenson under- 
stood that Mr. Hall was still in darkness and distress, and could 
/not preach, he was deeply affected. Entering the seat appropriated 
to the elders, before the pulpit, after a psalm was sung, he com- 
menced a strain of humble petition and adoration that touched all 
hearts. His first petition was — " Lord, cast the deaf and dumb 



334 SKETCHES OF KORTII CAROLINA. 

devil put of our pastor ; this deaf devil, that will not allow hiin to 
hear the promises of the gospel ; and this dumb devil, that will 
not suffer him to preach as he has heretofore done." At the close 
of the prayer, the venerable form of the beloved pastor was seen 
rising and making its way to the long unvisited pulpit. " I will 
try to preach to-day," said Mr. Hall to Mr. Stevenson. The sermon 
that followed gave evidence that the prayer of little Gabriel had 
been heard and answered, — for the deaf and dumb devil was cast 
out. 

The abiding recollection of the wormwood and the gall, which 
he liad so often drunk to the very dregs of bitterness, made him 
sympathize with the afflicted, particularly those walking in dark- 
ness. He would go far to see them : and the interviews were the 
pouring out the sympathies of a wounded heart that had been healed 
by the balm of Gilead. He was tender to his fellow men seeking 
salvation : but his heart melted for those bowed down under a sense 
of the hiding of the Saviour's face. He scarce ever preached without 
exhibiting deep emotion, and was often in tears. One of the most 
eloquent and impressive sermons his people recollect to have heard 
from him, was drawn from him under the following circumstances. 
Mr. Charles Story, a gentleman of irreproachable character and 
piety, came up from Black River, S. C, with his family, to spend the 
summer in Iredell county, on account of his low state of health. 
His spirits were greatly depressed, and his mind became clouded 
with doubts about his spiritual state. At length his hope in Christ 
forsook him ; — his sins appeared always before him, and the light 
of God's countenance was hidden. Mr. Hall became deeply in- 
terested at once, — he had gone down into the dark vale, and had 
liimsclf sunk in the mire. His kind and tender conversation, full 
of Christian sympathy, failing to relieve the sufferer's mind, he 
prepared a sermon for the occasion, from the words of Isaiah 1., 
10 : " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the 
voice of his servant, that walkcth in darkness and hath no light ? 
Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." 
From these words he described, with great clearness, the child of 
God walking in darkness ; then pointed out the foundation of his 
hope, Jesus Christ, the Chief Corner-Stone ; and brought forth 
the glorious promises and consolations of the gospel. His own 
heart was deeply affected : he preached in tears ; the people were 
moved and melted ; the place became a Bochin. The gentleman 
listened, — was enlightened, — was relieved, and went away from the 
gcrmon with a glad heart, as his minister had done from the prayers 



REV. JAMES HALL. .335 

of " little Gabriel," — his feet were placed upon a rock, and a new 
song was put into his mouth, even praise to his God. The hearers 
of that sermon could never forget the impression. The solemnity, 
the tenderness, the deep emotion of their pastor, from the first 
naming his text, the wonderful description of the saint in darkness, 
were all treasured in their memories and in their hearts. 

Nassau Hall, his Alma Mater, honored him with the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity ; and the University of North Carolina repeated 
the compliment. And if activity as a pastor, enterprise as a mis- 
sionary, success as a guide of youth in their literary course, and 
ability in training young men for the ministry, are qualifications for 
that honorary degree, the honors were in this case well conferred. 

His reply to the degree from the University of North Carolina 
is characteristic of the honesty of the man, and the tone of public 
feeling, at that time, in regard to that institution. He made a 
donation of sixty volumes to the Library, out of his own collection, 
which, though not large, was valuable. The copy of Turretine 
that stood upon the Doctor's shelf is now in the library of a pastor 
in the mountains of Virginia. How he ever found time to read 
enough to be able to lead young men in the study of Theology can 
be accounted for only on the ground of his having no family, and 
resolutely devoting all his time to build the church of the Living 
God. 

In July, 1819, Dr. Hall returned from the Anniversary of the 
American Bible Society, and-the sessions of the General Assem- 
bly, for tlie last time ; and soon after his return delivered his last 
sermon. The last seven years of his life were years of weakness, 
languor and depression ; and not unfrequently spiritual sorrows 
gathered around his soul as he reflected upon his own sinfulness 
and helplessness. Confident that God had used him as the instru- 
ment for the conversion of others, he often feared about his own, 
lest having preached to others, he himself should be a castaway. 

His body was entombed in Bethany church graveyard, by the 
side of his co-laborer and friend, Lewis Feuilleteau Wilson. On 
a white marble head-stone near the gate is the following inscrip- 
tion : — 



336 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

Beneath this stone are deposited 

the remains of 

The Rev. JAMES HALL, D.D., 

who departed this life 

July 25th, 1826, 

in the 82d year of his age. 

For 12 years he sustained the office of Pastor 

to the united congregation of Fourth 
Creek, Concord, and Bethany ; and for 26 years 
to that of Bethany alone. He was a man of 
science as well as piety ; and for his ex- 
tensive labors in the cause of his Divine 
Master, as well as for his great usefulness 
as a preceptor of youth, his memory is 
embalmed in the hearts of his people. 

The pains of death are passed. 

Labor and sorrow cease. 
And life's long warfare closed at last. 

His soul is found in peace. 

Soldier of Christ, well done, 

Praise be thy new employ. 
And while eternal ages run, 

Rest in thy Saviour's joy. 

Thus rest, in this retired spot, the remains of the man whose 
charge was visited with the first revival of rehgion, in Concord 
Presbytery, after the Amcric^i Revolution. 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 33' 



CHAPTER XXV. 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 



The Rev. Mr. James Hall, upon giving up his pastoral charge of 
Concord and Fourth Creek in Iredell county, in the year 1790, was, 
in the course of two or three years, succeeded by the man whom on 
account of his private friendship, and his estimation of his talents 
for usefulness, he would have chosen of all others, recently entered 
upon the office of the ministry of the gospel, Lewis Feuilleteau 
Wilson. A foreigner by birth, Mr. Wilson both loved and served 
the country of his adoption ; and was beloved and honored by all 
that were favored by his acquaintance, in his office as a physician, 
in which capacity he served in the Revolutionary war, and the more 
serious one of a minister of the gospel, in which he closed his days. 

On his mother's side of French extract, on his father's of English, 
he was born on St. Christopher's, one of the West India Islands, 
June, 1753. His father, a wealthy planter, preferring an education 
in England for his son, to the indulgence and desultory life of 
planters' children in the islands, embarked his two sons, Lewis, then 
about four years of age, and a brother two years older, for London, 
to be put to school under the care of his connexions. The brother 
died on the voyage; and Lewis, an entire stranger, commenced his 
education in his tender years. Some time after his father removed 
to London ; and the son was continued at the grammar school until 
he completed his seventeenth year. At that time an uncle of his 
emigrated to America and settled in New Jersey ; young Wilson 
accompanied him, and soon after his arrival entered upon the course 
of studies at Nassau Hall, in Princeton. 

In his literary course Mr. Wilson was successful, and received the 
Bachelor's degree with honor. In his religious course he was kindly 
crossed by the Providence and Spirit of God, and from being an 
opposer was changed to an humble, yet firm believer in Jesus. In 
the year 1772 a very general revival of religion took place in the 
college ; and so great was its influence, that he and thirteen of his 
class, after they had completed their college course, turned their 
attention to the study of theology in preparation for the gospel 
22 



338 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ministry, professing that their first impressions of grace were during 
that refreshing with which the institution was favored. 

At the commencement of the revival and for a time during its 
progress, young Wilson was violently opposed to all religious things. 
So embittered w^ere his feelings that he would not permit any one 
to converse with him on the subject of religion at all, either as a 
general subject or matter of personal experience. He had been 
educated in the Episcopal forms of worship ; was a regular attend- 
ant on divine service, and correct in his external conduct ; and did 
not wish to be troubled about his experience by Presbyterian minis- 
ters and teachers. Probably at that time he would not have listened 
to any person. One of the tutors made an effort to call his attention 
to the concerns of his soul ; entering his room, he began to converse 
on the subject of religion. Mr. Wilson interrupted him, " Mr. 

, I am engaged in my studies, — this is my room, — there is the 

door." 

Buoyed up by a spirit of pharisaic righteousness he w^ent on, for 
a time, pouring contempt on the work of God, till that same spirit, 
that arrested a persecuting Saul, arrested him. One evening while 
Dr. Spencer was preaching in the College Hall he was seized with 
deep convictions, and felt that these things which he had hitherto 
received as enthusiasm, and little better than madness, were realities 
of amazing importance. His distress of mind continued for some 
time before he could see his way of being saved through the Lord 
Christ. When Jesus was manifested as " the way, and the truth, 
and the life," he embraced him with full purpose of heart ; and from 
having been an opposer, like Saul, he became a full and hearty friend 
that said, Lord, what icilt thou have me to do ; and when he found 
his Lord's will he went and did it. The memory of his decided 
opposition to the gospel and a revival of religion led him often to 
confession and deep humiliation, throughout his whole ministerial 
life. 

The Rev. John Makemie W^ilson, of Rocky River, tells us in the 
sermon he preached on occasion of the death of Rev. L. F. W^ilson, 
that during the revival of religion that spread over Carolina, in the 
south and west, in the year 1802 and the following years, the sub- 
ject of this short sketch was often heard to address opposers to that 
work in the following words : — " My dear friends, I pity you, be- 
cause I once stood on the ground on which you now stand, and 
know something of your disposition towards the present work. I 
have felt the disposition of a very devil towards a work similar to 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 339 

the present. Therefore I feel for you, and pity you with all my 
heart." 

During the remainder of his college life, his zeal to promote 
the cause he once opposed, was tempered with great humihty, 
that essential grace of a Christian. Having been brought up in 
high life, and with the expectations of a son of a wealthy citizen 
of London, he bowed to the deserving, however lowly in their 
sphere. His companions and friends were chosen without respect 
to wealth or poverty, but according to his estimation of their 
moral and spiritual excellence. His desire for excellence was 
totally dissevered from that thirst for applause, which so often 
stimulates to great efforts. He was content with having merited 
approbation. This trait in his character was manifested in the 
course he pursued respecting a college honor, so coveted by 
students, particularly when about to be graduated. At the last 
examination of his class, when the members stood for their diplo- 
mas, five honorary orations were voted by the trustees, to be de- 
livered from the public stage on the day of commencement, by 
that number of the best scholars, as orators. Mr. Wilson ob- 
tained the second honor by vote of the trustees. Whether he 
knew of some one of his class who would be mortified in being 
left out of the list of honors, or whether he acted solely from the 
humility and modesty in his own breast, we cannot now say ; but 
when information was given him by the president, in the presence 
of the board and of the class, he arose and said : " Sir, I feel 
myself under obligation to the trustees for their compliment to me ; 
it is well enough to deserve such an oration, but I do not choose 
to accept it, and desire that it may be given to another." He did 
not appear on the stage at commencement, according to his re- 
quest the honor had been conferred upon another, more desirous of 
the eminence. This trait of character was manifested by him 
through life ; always deserving a high rank in the estimation of 
his brethren, he never thrust himself forward to public notice. 
His bravery was equal to his modesty ; and his worth was com- 
pounded of both. He sought no honors ; he shunned no dangers 
in the path of duty. 

After receiving his Bachelor's degree, in September, 1773, he 
visited London, designing to take orders in the Episcopal church, 
if, upon examination and inquiry, he could see a reasonable pros- 
pect of usefulness and satisfaction. His father was a man of suf- 
ficient wealth and influence to obtain for him what is called " a 
good living " in the city, or some pleasant place in the country, and 



340 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

finding that his son wished to engage in the ministry of the gospel, 
pressed him earnestly to take orders in the national clmrch. The 
son, upon consideration and observation, became convinced that 
he could not be satisfied in such a connection as his father wished, 
and he himself had at first designed ; and frankly communicated the 
result of his deliberations. The father upbraided him with be- 
coming a Presbyterian in America, and threatened to disinherit 
him unless he complied with his expressed washes. The son con- 
tinued firm in his determination not to enter the national church. 
The father was resolute in withholding from him all assistance in 
making preparations to enter the ministry in any other church. 
The son was resolved to enter another church, and was left 
by his father penniless. Having obtained possession of a bequest 
of 300 guineas, made to him by an aunt, whose death occurred a 
little before this event, and furnishing himself with a Avardrobe and 
a small library, he set sail for America, after a residence in England 
of about five months. 

Landing at Philadelphia, he returned to Princeton, ana com- 
menced the study of Divinity under the care of Dr. Witherspoon, 
in the spring of 1774. Soon after this he was chosen tutor in the 
college, and performed the duties of that station about a year. 
New Jersey being overrun by the British army, the college Avas 
broken up. A class-mate of Mr. Wilson, who liad been a fellow- 
tutor, having determined to enter upon the study of medicine with 
an uncle in Philadelphia, prevailed upon him to commence the 
study in his company. It is said that the principal reason for this 
change of professional studies was the perplexity of mind that 
came upon him in consequence of a careful perusal of church 
history. What this perplexity was, or whether it was anything 
more than discouragement in view of his owui native sinfulness, 
and the errors into which frail men had precipitated themselves, is 
not now known. 

After pursuing his medical studies about two years he embarked 
in the cause of American Independence, and entered the conti- 
nental service as surgeon. In this capacity he continued a number 
of years ; part of the time in the land service and part of the time 
on board of vessels of war. In the year 1781 he was informed by- 
letter of the death of his father, and of a legacy in his will of £^500 
sterling. This communication caused him another voyage to 
England. Having obtained his legacy, he returned to America 
and settled in Princeton in his profession, as practising physician ; 
the superior religious advantages of the place in connection with its 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 341 

seclusion, presenting powerful inducements to him to make it his 
permanent residence. 

As soon as he became permanently located, he secluded himself 
very much from intercourse with the world till he had carefully 
perused the whole both of the Old and New Testaments. He was 
heard to say that when he looked through the last six or seven 
years of his life, he seemed to himself like one who had been in a 
dream. During the whole of his connexion with the army, and in- 
deed throughout the whole course of his trials and changes from 
the time of his first landing in America to his settlement as a phy- 
sician in Princeton, it was observed by the pious and discerning, 
who had been acquainted with him in all his tossings and trials, 
that his deportment as a Christian was more than blameless, — it 
was exemplary. His attachment to the pious was seen in his un- 
disguised selection of his companions, — treating all with the respect 
becoming their station in life, he accounted the righteous the ex- 
cellent of the earth, and was peculiarly attached to those who 
exhibited a pious temper and a consistent Christian hfe. He 
might have said to such people as Ruth did to Naomi, " Intreat me 
not to leave thee, for whither thou goest I will go ; and where thou 
lodgest I w^ill lodge ; thy people shall be my people ; and thy God 
my God." 

The Rev. James Hall, w4io had contracted a strong friendship 
for Mr. Wilson while a member of college, being well acquainted 
with his acquirements and the estimation in which he was held by 
the students and faculty of college, visited Princeton in the year 
1786, and succeeded in pursuading his friend to remove to Iredell 
county, North Carolina. Both had been dihgent students at Nas- 
sau Hall ; both professing Christians ; both had served in the 
armies of the Revolution and come out honorably ; both held to 
their faith in Christ through all the besetments of the camp and the 
temptations incident to war, and each exercised an influence over 
the other, particularly in the latter years of Mr. Wilson's life. 

After the revival in Mr. Hall's congregation, and the consequent 
feeble health of that laborious and self-denied man, he made a sea 
voyage, and attended the meeting of the Synod of New York and 
Philadelphia in the spring of 1786. In the August following, his 
friend Dr. Wilson made a journey to Iredell, North Carolina, and 
finally made his residence in the sphere of that good man's labors, 
and there continued until his death, a period of some eighteen 
years. 

Soon after his settlement in Iredell, Mr. Wilson became con- 



342 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

nected in marriage with Miss Margaret Hall, the daughter of Mr. 
Hugh Hall, and a near connexion of the friend by whose persua- 
sion he had emigrated to North Carolina. This marriage was a 
happy one to both parties, till death made the separation ; and in 
the desolation of widowhood was reflected upon by the bereaved 
wife as matter of thanksgiving and consolation. As a physician 
and as a preacher, he was the good husband, and kind father, and 
faithful friend. 

Although his practice of medicine was very acceptable to the 
people, evincing great ability and skill, he continued in that profes- 
sion but about four years after his removal to North Carolina. He 
had never been fully satisfied with himself from the time he had 
laid aside the study of theology ; a secret uneasiness preyed upon 
his mind, lest he should be found to have run from his duty, and 
he often wished himself in another sphere of life, — that to which he 
had once devoted himself, but which afterwards he had declined. 
But every year seemed to remove him farther and farther from the 
object of his convictions ; and the cares of a family and the calls 
of his profession were heaping up difficulties and impediments, 
and rendering an entrance on the ministry a difficult, if not an im- 
possible thing. 

In this state of his mind, some of tlie pious people began to ex- 
press a desire that so well qualified a person as Dr. Wilson 
should be taken from the practice of medicine and put into the 
pulpit ; and from healing the maladies of the people and curing 
their bodily infirmities, should preach the unsearchable riches of 
Christ for the salvation of their souls. 

Some of the leading ministers in Orange Presbytery also added 
their voice, amongst which the most feeble was not that of Mr. 
Hall, that he should come and take part of the ministry with them. 
Induced by this external call and his internal convictions, he offered 
himself to the Orange Presbytery a candidate for the gospel min- 
istry ; and having passed his various trials with much approbation, 
he was licensed to preach in the year 1791. 

It soon appeared that his friends had not been mistaken in their 
anticipations of his visefulness as a minister. His preaching was 
so acceptable, that various respectable vacancies made exertions to 
obtain his services as their pastor. His inclinations were in favor of 
Fourth Creek and Concord, which were united in a call presented 
to Presbytery, and in June, 1793, he was ordained and installed 
their pastor, and became the successor and near neighbor of his 
friend Mr. Hall, whose desires were accomplished in seeing Mr. 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 343 

Wilson 'in the ministry, and the churches of his former charge 
suppHed with an able and devoted preacher. 

His connexion with these two churches continued about ten 
years with uninterrupted harmony. 

The revival which began, in the year 1802, to be felt in Iredell 
county, was hailed with joy by Mr. Wilson. He, with some of 
his flock, had been engaged in social prayer to God for an outpour- 
ing of his spirit, for some time before the meeting in Randolph, on 
which the ministers of Concord Presbytery attended with so much 
interest. Mr. Wilson believed that a work of grace was going on 
by the agency of the Holy Spirit using weak means, and he re- 
joiced in it, notwithstanding those bodily exercises which then ac- 
companied it, and afterwards became so obnoxious to all the judi- 
cious. He encouraged the protracted meetings that followed in 
such quick succession in the upper country of Carolina, in which 
the people encamped upon the ground near the place of preaching ; 
and remained for some days altogether absorbed in the subject of 
religion. There is no evidence that he encouraged any disorder, 
or pursued any improper course, or used any hurtful measures ; 
he desired the salvation of his people, and preferred the excitement, 
with all the objectionable exercises, to that sleep of death which 
brooded over the multitude. 

The exercises were so objectionable to many of the people of 
Fourth Creek, that they became opposed to the camp meetings, 
and doubted the genuineness of the whole work. With this was 
connected a discussion on the qualifications for admission to the 
sealing ordinances. Mr. Wilson, of Rocky River, says, " it was 
not unlike that which took place between President Edwards and 
the people of Northampton." That, it is well known, was on the 
following grounds : On the side of Mr. Edwards it was contended 
tliat a credible profession of experimental religion was the only 
proper qualification for admission to Baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
per. On the other side, that baptism in infancy and a blameless 
life were all that could be required by the church or its officers. 
In the case of Mr. Wilson and Fourth Creek congregation, the 
discussion probably was, for we have no detailed account, whether 
that kind of experience given by the converts at these protracted 
meetings, was the proper experience for admission to the privileges 
of the clmrch ; and if the proper, was it the only proper experience, 
in kind for such admission ? The termination of the discussion in 
Fourth Creek, like that in Northampton, was the dissolution of the 
pastoral connection. There is no evidence, however, of the exist- 



344 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ence of any bitterness of feeling towards ^Ir. "Wilson, by tlie party 
in Fourth Creek that was opposed to his views, while it is kno^^-n 
that many of the church agi-eed with him in opinion, and were his 
firm friends till death. It is more than probable that ]\Ir. Wilson 
might have retained the charge of the congregation, notwithstand- 
ing the disagreement, if his ovm feelings would have permitted 
him to preside over a divided session. He chose to withdraw from 
Fourth Creek, and confine his labors for the remainder of his life 
to the church of Concord. 

This disagreement and consequent dissolution of the pastoral 
connection, had an unhappy influence upon the church and congre- 
gation of Fourth Creek. For many years they were without a 
regular pastor. Neither of the two parties was able to prevail in 
the congregation, and neither was willing to make a decisive 
movement ; consequently no call was made out for a pastor for 
twent}'" years. Mr. William Stevenso.i, a warm-hearted, pious 
man, led one party, and maintained the opinions of Mr. Wilson, 
preferring the revival with all the objectionable exercises ; and 
John McLelland, cool and determined in his course, would rather 
give up the excitement on religion than countenance in any way 
the attending objectionable circumstances, and led the other party. 
The tradition in the congregation has been, that the great body of 
the people would have been easily satisfied could these elders have 
agreed to drop the discussion. After having had temporary sup- 
plies for nearl)' twenty years, the Rev. Daniel Gould, from Not- 
tingham, New Hampshire, visited them, and in 1823 was installed 
pastor. An active man, he was of great advantage to the congre- 
gation ; was one of the first movers of the general supply of the 
Bible throughout the United States, and did much for the dissemi- 
nation of religious knowledge in Iredell county. His useful life 
was ended in 1834, April 29th, in his forty-fifth year ; and his 
body interred in the Fourth Creek burying-ground. After some 
years of temporary supply, the Rev. E. F. Rockwell was installed 
in 1844. During the vacancy that occurred from the time Mr. 
Gould ceased to preach in Fourth Creek in 1828, six years before 
his death, the Rev. Robert Caldwell, a grandson of Dr. Caldwell, 
of Guilford, after preaching as a licentiate, was ordained and 
installed in 1831 ; and dying in 1832, was buried in the same 
yard with Mr. Gould. 

The separation of Mr. Wilson from Fourth Creek took place in 
1803, and in 1804 he was removed from all earthly scenes and la- 
bors to the spiritual Mount Zion. The Rev. John M. Wilson, of 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAr WILSON. 345 

Rocky River, preached his funeral sermon from Revelations xiv., 
13 ; " And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, 
blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth ; yea, 
saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their 
works do follow them." In the appendix to the printed sermon, 
which is the authority for much that has been already stated, he 
says : " Mr. Wilson was a most extraordinary and useful compa- 
nion. His natural temper lively and cheerful, his education finished, 
his judgment penetrating, his acquaintance with the world large, 
qualified him at once to entertain and edify those that were conver- 
sant with him." 

" Freed from a useless romid of ceremony and unshackled by 
modes and forms, it was impossible not to be easy in his company. 
Our deceased friend, as a divine, certainly stood in a point of 
view highly respectable. He was not a wandering star, running 
off into eternal eccentricities. With respect to his system of faith, 
it was that which you might have expected from his profession. It 
was not like Nebuchadnezzar's image, composed of heterogene- 
ous materials Avhich cannot coalesce. He was firmly Calvinistic. 
In this respect he beheved, and maii)^ will believe with liim, ' that 
he w^ent his way by the footsteps of the flock, and fed his kids 
beside the shepherd's tent.' 

" In the arrangement of his public discourses he was clear and 
judicious ; his gesture natural, indicating deep engagement of 
heart ; his st^'ie elevated and nervous ; his eloquence flowing and 
persuasive. The language of Mr. Wilson's precepts and practice 
was one. By a life and conversation conformed to the gospel, he 
silently exhorted those to whom he ministered, as the great Apos- 
tle of the Gentiles did the churches — ' 3Iy little children, be ye 
followers of me, even as I am a follower of Christ.' " 

" From a life and conversation thus upright, holy vrnt advises' 
us to expect a peaceful latter end. This expectation, in the pre- 
sent case, was not disappointed. He had been mider declining 
circumstances of health for several months before he took his last 
illness, but had recovered considerably, which gave hopes that 
he was about to be restored to his usefulness in the chm'ch. But 
the will of heaven was to remove him. His last illness, if the 
w'riter mistakes not, was a fever of the inflammatory kind. 
Shortly after he was taken ill, he mentioned to a friend who 
called to see him, that he knew he never would survive it, and 
added that he had two reasons for saving so : ' 1st. Because I have 
felt myself more dead to the world for about two months past, 



346 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

than I ever did before. 2d. I feel symptoms now that I never 
felt before in any sickness.' 

"' On the Friday and Saturday week before he died, he fre- 
quently spoke of that uninterrupted peace and joy that he found 
in believing. About this time the hiccough became so violent 
that he could scarcely utter a single sentence. On Sabbath 
morning he called his little sons to him, and said : ' Retire into 
the other room and read your books, and may the Lord God of 
your father bless you.' On Monday morning, being asked whether 
he enjoyed the comforts of religion, he answered, yes. Being 
told that it was probable he would never rise from that bed, he 
replied, ' I am w^illing to die, if God is willing. Death has been 
no terror to me for five years past.' 

" On Sabbath morning, December 9th, immediately preceding 
his death, the hiccough materially subsided, so that he was able 
to connect sentences, and give regular addresses. Early in the 
morning he called to his bedside a number of his friends, who 
were waiting with him, and ga've an address to every one, accord- 
ing to the opinion he had formed of their religious standing. To 
a young man who asked him how he did, he replied, ' I am 
almost in heaven.' To a young woman, ' Beware of this world, 
or it will ruin you ; it has ruined thousands.' After this, sitting 
up in bed, supported with one behind him, he called for a drink, 
after which he collected into his countenance a clieerful air, and 
proceeded as follows : ' My friends, thirty years have elapsed 
since I first discovered the vanity of this world, and ever since it 
has been growing less and less in my esteem ; and now every 
worldly attachment is broken up, and I am ready to take my 
flight at a moment's warning. The reason why I left the coun- 
try where I then resided was, lest I should be carried away with 
the worldly spirit so prevalent in that part (London), and you, my 
friends, are my witnesses, that since I came among you, I have 
uniformly acted on the same principles, and been influenced by 
the same views,' 

" Early on this day the Rev. Dr. Hall made him a visit, and 
upon asking him how he was, he replied, — ' I am going to heaven.' 
About 11 o'clock a member of the session came to him and said, 
' Farewefl, I am going to the session-house.' To whom he replied, 
' Carry this my last message to the people of Concord, — tell them 
that I am on the borders of the eternal world, and my wish is that 
God may enable them to improve every dispensation of his provi- 
dence that has any tendency to promote their eternal salvatio n.' 



REV. LEWIS FEUILLETEAU WILSON. 347 

" About 12 o'clock he requested those who were present to join 
in singing, himself naming the hymn that he wished to sing. At 
an interval of this exercise he broke out into thanksgiving and 
praise as follows : ' God, I thank thee for the supports thou hast 
granted me under my present affliction, and through all the stages 
of my past life. I praise thee for another Sabbath ; and for the 
present communication of thy spirit and grace which thou hast 
granted me this day above all the Sabbaths I have ever enjoyed. 

Lord, thou hast supported me ; and thou promised to support 
me ; and thou wilt support me ; and poor as I am, and sinful as I 
am, and worthless as I am, I shall sit down with Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of my heavenly Father.' 

" He was much engaged in exhortation through the whole of 
this day. In the evening he desired all to leave the^room except 
his wife and children. This being done, he gave to each of them 
his dying charge. The same evening he said to the physician who 
attended him, ' Doctor, you can do me no good ; I am just going 
into the eternal world ; and were it not for the comforts of religion, 

1 believe I should be completely on the rack. The most painful 
hours are the most happy hours ; I never read or heard of any- 
thing that will support a man in a dying hour but the gospel of 
Christ.' 

" On Monday, the 10th, he was very weak, not able to utter 
more than two or three words at a time ; but still manifested his 
good will to every person who came in, by reaching out his hand. 
A very aged man coming to the bedside, he took him by the hand 
and said, ' You are come to see a dying man.' 

"Tuesday, 11th. This day ended the Hfe of Mr. Wilson. 
Through the former part of it he was very uneasy. About 3 
o'clock in the evening he appeared to be dying ; but recovering a 
little, he cast an affectionate look at his two little sons, who stood 
by the bedside, and reached out his hand, and took each of them 
by their hands, but said nothing. Shortly after, Mrs. Wilson sit- 
ting by the bedside, he took her by the hand, and with a pleasant 
countenance said, ' You and I will yet rejoice together in this great 
salvation.' A few minutes after he whispered to her to turn him ; 
which being done, he lay easy a little while. As he lay, his lips 
were observed to be constantly moving. Some who stood near 
him say that he whispered. Holy, holy. He then appeared to 
compose himself for his last sleep by laying his left hand under 
his cheek, and bringing his right hand down by his side. This 



348 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

being done, he breathed out his last, December 11th, 1804, in the 
52d year of his age, without a struggle or a groan." 

He was buried near Bethany Church, a few paces from the gate 
of the grave-yard, in a place chosen by his wife's relations. His 
friend Hall was, many years after, buried a few paces from his 
side. On a white marble head-stone is the following inscription : 

Sacred 
To the memory of the late 
Rev. Lewis F. WiLson, who 
departed this life Dec'r 11th, 1S04, 
in the 52d year of his age. 
Through almost the whole 
of his ministerial course with 
ability and faithfulness, he sus- 
tained the pastoral relation 
over the united congregations 
of Fourth Creeif and Concord. 

Preserve, venerable pile. 

Inviolate thy precious trust ; 
To thy cold arms the Christian Church, 

Weejjing, commits her precious dust. 

He left a widow and seven children, three sons, and four daugh- 
ters. All his children grew up to mature years, and all, by the 
time they reached their twenty-first year, were united to the church 
on a credible profession of religion. Two of the sons became 
ministers of the gospel, one of whom was the pioneer of settled 
ministers in Texas, and is now laboring there (1845), and the other 
resides in Virginia. " I doubt not," says on6 of the children, 
" that the instruction which we received on Sabbath after returning 
from church, was the means of bringing us thus early to devote 
our lives to the service of God." 

Hall had the longest race, and produced the greatest immediate 
effect on his fellow-men ; Wilson had the most triumphant end, 
and being dead, yet speaks in his descendants. Both undoubtedly 
fought the good fight, and won the prize, and in the last great day 
will wear the conqueror's crown. 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 349 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 

The settlements which composed the congregation of Thyatira in 
Rowan count}'', were made about the time those on the Catawba 
began to cluster together. But of the various missionaries that 
visited the Presbyterian families between the Yadkin and Ca- 
tawba, sent from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the memoranda 
or journal of but one has yet been found, that of Hugli Mc- 
Aden. 

He crossed the Yadkin on Tuesday, Sept. 12th, 1755, after 
having spent some days in the congregation at the Ford, making 
his home part of the time at the house of a Mr. Henry Sloan ; and 
passing on about ten miles, tarried with a Mr. James Aleson ; and 
the next day, passing on three or four miles, he tarried with a Mr. 
Brandon, a countryman of his. On Sabbath, the 14th, he says he 
rode to the meeting-house and preached, but does not tell the name 
of the house or its location. On Monday, he went to John 
Luckey's, five or six miles. Wednesday was a day appointed for 
a fast, on account of the great drought, and the Indian War. 
After visiting and praying with a man, who had been dangerously 
injured by a fall from his horse, he went home with a Mr. John 
Andrew, of whose engagedness in religion he speaks warmly. 
On Thursday, he rode with Mr. Andrew to Justice Carruth's, 
about eight miles. On the Sabbath (the 21st), he preached in a 
meeting-house about a mile off, and returned to Mr. Carruth's. 
The next day, went to David Templeton's, about five miles, and 
on his way came up with a company of people that had left the 
Cow Pasture in Virginia on account of the depredations of the 
Indians, supposed to be a part of Mr. Craighead's congregation, 
while he preached in that State, He rode home, four miles 
further, with William Denney, who gave him a pair of shoes 
made of his own manufactured leather, by William Woodsides. 
On Tuesday, he rode to Mr. Templeton's again, and remained 
with him, and preached on Wednesday in the meeting-house. He 
went to Captain Osborn's, about six miles, with whom he tarried 
till Sabbath, and then preached in the new meeting-house, about 



350 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

three miles off. After preaching again on Wednesday, he rode 
home with WilHam Reese, about seven miles. On Sabbath, he 
preached at Captain Lewis's, going from Mr. Reese's ; and on the 
Wednesday following, preached there again on a fast day, accord- 
ing to the appointment of the governor. From this neighborhood, 
he proceeded to Rocky River. 

On his return, in November, he called again at Capt. Lewis's, 
and says, it was in the Welsh settlement ; thence he returned to 
William Reese's, made a visit to Coddle Creek, and passing, 
called on David Templeton, Justice Carruth, and John Andrew. 
With the last he tarried some days, and went with him to " Ca- 
they's meeting-house," the last Sabbath of December. " Here," 
he says, " a number of the people were exceeding urgent upon 
me, and very desirous to join with Rocky River in a call for me 
to come and settle among them." 

This matter finally fell through, on account of the division of 
sentiment in the congregation respecting the kind of minister 
they should have, whether of what was called the Old Side, or the 
New Side, in the division of the Synod of Philadelphia. 

From these memoranda, from the short journal of Mr. M'Aden, 
it appears that he went through neigliborhoods that were accus- 
tomed to hear preaching from missionaries, which have since been 
parts of Thyatira and Centre, and more lately of Prospect, Back 
Creek, and Unity, and perhaps Franklin. Some of these had 
meeting-houses, and some were dependent on private dwellings 
for their worship of Almighty God. Each settlement was, very 
properly, anxious to have preaching convenient; and being on 
different sides in the division of the Synod, there was at the time 
of M'Adcn's visit some difficulty from the numbers and clashing 
interests of these smaller societies. 

The visit of Messrs. Spencer and M'Whorter in 1764 and 
1765, was successful in composing these differences in a great 
measure, and Cathey's meeting-house, under the name of Thya- 
tira, and a new place called from its position, Centre, superseded 
all other places in a strip of country extending from the Catawba 
to the Yadkin, in which are now some ten regular organized 
churches. 

Whether Thyatira had a settled pastor before the Rev. Samuel 
E. M'Corkle, cannot probably be now ascertained to a certainty, 
though the probability is he was the first pastor. This eminent 
man became the minister of that church in early life, and con- 
tinued with it till his death, a space of more than thirty years. 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 351 

Samuel Eusebius McCorkle was born August 23d, 1746, near 
Harris's Ferry, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His mother was 
sister of the Rev. Joseph Montgomery. At the age of four years, 
Samuel was put to an English school, and continued at it, making 
rapid progress, till he was ten years of age. At that time, his 
parents removed to North Carolina, and settled in the western part 
of Rowan county, in the bounds of tlie congregation now known 
as Back Creek, which was set off from Thyatira in the year 1805. 
His parents were pious people, and constant attendants at Cathey's 
meeting-house, and Thyatira, when there was preaching. After 
their son became the minister, a gentleman, now living in Salis- 
bury, says he often saw the old gentleman, who was a ruling 
elder in the church, sitting on the pulpit stairs, on account of his 
deafness, that he might get as near as possible to his son while 
preaching. The remains of Mr. McCorkle's parents were laid 
side by side, in Thyatira yard. Having enjoyed the rare pleasure 
of sitting under the sound of the gospel from the lips of their own 
son, in whom they had unbounded confidence, these worthy peo- 
ple closed their earthly career at an advanced age. 

Young McCorkle's proficiency was such, that for some time 
after his removal to Carolina, he was the instructor of the younger 
children of the family ; and in a few years was employed in a 
public English school. His tastes and desires being for literature 
and science about his ^20th year ,he commenced a classical 
course, which was completed by his receiving his degree, Sept. 
20th, 1772. A part, if not all, of his previous preparation, was 
under the tuition of the Rev. David Caldwell, in Guilford county. 

From a fragment of a diary, commenced in Princeton, the 
spring before his taking the degree of A.B., it appears that the 
revival of religion in that College, in the year 1772, was blessed 
to his soul in some measure, as it was to Lewis Feuilleteau Wil- 
son, and also to James Hall, the means of conversion to one, and 
of growth in grace to the other, both of whom were afterwards his 
brcllu-cn in the ministry and co-presbyters in adjoining congrega- 
tions. 

The diary commences thus : — 

" Saturday, Ajjril llth, '72, Nassau. 

" 1st. Resolved, This day to begin a religious diary, having 
been a long time convniced of its necessity and importance, and 
having oftentimes made faint resolutions to JDegin it. 

" Resolved, To begin with a short record of my whole life, 



352 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

offering up a prayer to Almighty God for his assistance and direc- 
tion, intending to devote the whole day to religious purposes. 

" Very early in life I was impressed with a sense of divine 
things, and lived convinced of the necessity of religion, and con- 
vinced that I was without it, sometimes careless, sometimes awak- 
ened, till about the age of 20, when, at the approach of a sacra- 
ment, I was more than usually concerned, and resolved to defer it 
no longer. Here I fell into a self-righteous scheme, and mistook 
a certain flow of natural affection for real delight in religion, while 
I never saw the enmity of my own heart, the odiousness of sin in 
its own nature, nor the glory and excellence of God in his own 
nature ; only hated sin because it exposed me to misery, and loved 
God because I hoped he would make me happy. Upon this I fear 
thousands are apt to rest, as in all probability I should have done, 
had it not pleased God to send me to college, where, the last year 
of my residence, was a considerable revival, in which it pleased 
God to open my eyes to see my awful deception," 

" In the beginning of this work, I found my lieart not properly 
engaged, but indifferent and unaffected. I read the following re- 
mark in Borton's Fourfold State : — ' When winter has stripped the 
trees of their verdure, it is hard to distinguish those that have life 
from those that have not ; hut tvhen the spring approaches, then 
they are easily known by their spreading leaves, while those that 
are dead still continue the same ; thus when religion is in decay, 
the saint can scarcely be distinguished from the sinner ; but when 
a time of refreshing comes, then will they blossom and bring forth 
fruit abundantly ;' partly condemned by this remark, I cast back 
my thoughts upon past life, and began to examine my religion and 
the motives of my actions. I found they were all selfish, and that 
since the time when I thought I had got religion, I had fallen 
awa}^ even to the neglect of secret prayer, which is quite incon- 
sistent with the Christian character." 

" Here I was further condemned, but still appeared very unwil- 
ling to give up all my religion, till I came to read Hopkins's State 
of the Unregeneratc, which presented such a picture of wicked- 
ness and enmity of the Imman heart, and of the misery they are 
in by nature, as fully convinced me that I had never seen my own 
heart, never had had any proper views of God ; and, in short, 
that I had never known anything about religion. Here I felt my- 
self in great distress, and had very violent exercises, till my pas- 
sions subsided, and seemed to end in a calm rational conviction. 
Here my views were all confirmed on searching the enmity of my own 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 353 

heart, which seemed to increase and almost amaze me, that I had 
never seen it before, having read Mr, Edwards's sermons on that 
subject. Also in viewing the dreadfulness and misery of man's 
estate, and the horrid nature of sin, which Mr. Hopkins's sermon 
on the law seemed to present in an aggravated light, I could never 
raise my thoughts to contemplate the feelings and glory of God in 
Christ, though I sometimes attempted it ; my sins seemed to be 
so aggravated, that they made me sometimes almost despond of 
God's mercy ; and what seemed most of all terrible to me, was, 
that I had in that state been admitted to the table of the Lord." 

" Here I ran into frequent cavils against the dispositions of 
Providence in the creation of man, and His justice in condemning 
him. I found a secret disposition to clear myself by the doctrine 
of man's inability, till I read Mr. Smalley's Sermons on that sub- 
ject, which seemed to give me considerable light in vindicating 
the justice of God. Another cavil seemed to be against the mercy 
of God. J thouglit I desired salvation, and found fault that it was 
not given me ; upon this neglect I received considerable light by 
Mr. Green's Sermon, which showed me that sinners only desire a 
partial Saviour — a Saviour from misery, but not a Saviour from 
sin. Here I thought I gave up all my cavils, thought I discovered 
the justice of God, the mercy of a Saviour, and the expediency 
of the Gospel ; and thought I was willing to renounce all other 
Saviours, and accept Him in all His^offices and relations. Here- 
upon I felt considerable comfort." 

Afterwards, in speaking about that comfortable feeling, the 
origin of which he could not determine, he says : " Being sen- 
sible that I did not then, nor have I yet, undergone that change 
which is from death unto life," When he did experience that 
change is not on any record that can be obtained. The short diary 
that is extant goes over but a short space of time. That he did 
come to experience a change which he thought was unto life, is 
evident from his commencing the course of theological reading for 
the ministry soon after he was graduated. 

In his later life he drew up for his children a memoir of his 
life ; this mani\script Avas mislaid or lost by a gentleman, a hearer 
of Mr. McCorkle in his younger days, and a friend of the family, 
who was conveying it from Tennessee to North Carolina, for the 
purpose of affording materials for a printed memoir. Probably in 
this MS. there is a fuller account of his religious exercises in ac- 
cepting the Lord Christ as his portion, 

A part, at least, of his theological reading was under the direc- 
23 



354 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tion of his maternal uncle, the Rev. Joseph Montgomery, of New 
Castle Presbytery. His license to preach was received from the 
Presbytery of New York, in the spring of 1774, as appears by 
report of Presbytery to Synod. 

After his licensure he was employed about two years in Virgi- 
nia ; then spending some time in the congregation of Thyatira, and 
accepting their call to become their pastor, he was ordained by 
Hanover Presbytery, August 2d, 1777 ; and never left his charge 
till he was removed by death. 

Some time previous to his ordination, July 2d, 1776, he Was 
united in marriage to Miss Steele, of Salisbury, sister of the Hon. 
John Steele, conspicuous in the councils of the State and nation. 
She bore him ten children, six of whom survived him ; and fifteen 
years after his death, closed her pious and useful life. 

Of the mother of his wife Dr. McCorkle entertained the high- 
est estimation ; and in this he was joined by the public at large. 
A very pretty anecdote is told of her, the event occurring in the 
Revolutionary War. She was then landlady of the principal hotel 
in Salisbury, and lived between the post-office and the corner now 
occupied by Shaffer's tavern, a few steps north of the court-house. 

Wliile the American arm}^ under General Greene, was retreating 
before Cornwallis, in the memorable and successful effort to con- 
vey to Virginia the prisoners taken by Morgan in the battle of the 
Cowpens, the line of march embraced Salisbury. While Corn- 
wallis was crossing the Catawba, Greene was approaching this vil- 
lage. Dr. Reed, who had charge of the sick and wounded pri- 
soners, was sitting in an apartment of Mrs. Steele's tavern, over- 
looking the main street, writing paroles for such British officers as 
were unable from sickness and debility to proceed farther, when he 
saw the general, unaccompanied by his aides or a single individual, 
ride up to the door. " How do you find yourself, my good general ?" 
eagerly inquired the doctor. " Wretched beyond measure," replied 
Greene, as, exhausted, he slowly dismounted from his jaded horse — 
" without a friend — without money — and destitute even of a com- 
panion," — his aides having been dispatched to different parts of the 
retreating army. " That I deny," said Mrs. Steele, stepping for- 
ward with great alacrity — " that I most particularly deny. In me, 
general, you have a devoted friend. Money you shall have ; and 
this young gentleman will not, I am certain, suffer you to be with- 
out a companion, as soon as the humane business about which he 
is employed, is finished." When she had prepared refreshments 
for the exhausted general, she proceeded to fulfil her promise about 



TPIYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 355 

the money ; taking him to an adjoining apartment, she laid before 
him her store of gold and silver pieces, and generously filled his 
pockets, giving him at the same time many kind and encouraging 
words. 

Greene's sta,y was short ; but before leaving the house he took 
from the walls of one of the apartments a picture of George III., 
which had come from England as a present from one of the mem- 
bers of the court to a member of an embassy, a connexion of Mrs. 
Steele, — and with a piece of chalk wrote upon the back — "0 
George, hide thy face and mourn,'''' and replaced it with the face to 
the wall. The picture, with the writing, both unharmed, is still 
preserved by a grand-daughter of Mrs. Steele, a daughter of Dr. 
McCorkle, and may be found in the town of Charlotte, at the post- 
office. 

The following obituary notice of this excellent woman appeared 
in the Fayetteville Gazette of January 3d, 1791: "Died, on 
Monday, the 22d of November, in Salisbury, of a lingering and 
painful illness, Mrs. Elizabeth Steele, relict of Mr. William 
Steele, and mother of Margaret McCorkle, wife of Rev. Samuel 
McCorkle. 

" Her name and character are well known, but best by her most 
intimate friends. Sh^ was a devout worshipper of God ; she was 
distinguished during the war as a friend to her country ; she twice 
supported with dignity the characters of wife and widow ; she was 
a most tender and affectionate parent ; kind, obliging neighbor ; 
frugal, industrious, and charitable to the poor. 

" Her character will be better understood by the following letter, 
found among her choice papers, since her death, than by anything 
that can be said of her. The letter is believed to be, and appears 
to be, her own diction ; and is published exactly as it was found. 
It may be a useful lesson to all parents, and to all children as well 
as her own. It bears date February 5th, 1783, when her other 
son Robert Gillespie was living, and begins thus : 

" ' My dear children — If I die before any of you, I wish that this 
letter may fall into your hands after I am dead and gone, that you 
may see how much affection I have for you, and that what I have 
often said while aliVe may be remembered by you when I am in 
eternity. 

" 'If the Almighty would suffer me to return to talk with you, I 
think now I should take a pleasure to do it every day : if this can- 
not be allowed me, I think it would be some satisfaction to see 
you, especially when you are reading this letter, which I leave you 



356 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

as a legacy, to see what effect it will have on you, and whether it 
will make you think of what I have often told you. 

" 'I have many a time told you to remember your Maker, and 
ask him to guide you ; it is a good old saying — they are well 
guarded whom He guides, and he leaves them that don't ask him, 
in their own ways. I want you to keep out of bad company, — it 
has ruined many young people. I want you to keep company with 
sober, good people, and learn their ways, — to keep the Sab- 
bath, to be charitable to the poor, to be industrious and frugal, just 
to all men, and above all, to love one another. 

" ' Believe me, my children, if anything could disturb me in the 
grave, it would be to know that you did not live as brother and 
sister ought to live : nothing could be worse, except to know that 
you would not follow me to heaven. Oh, my dear children, I have 
had a great deal of trouble and sorrow in raising you ! If I should 
feel as I do now, I could never endure to see any of you without 
an interest in Jesus, at the great day, and forced away, never to 
meet again. Parting here with your parents you know had almost 
taken my life, when I had hope to see them again ; but I am now 
sure I could not live to see any of you cursed j^y your Maker, and 
driven away to dwell with the Devil and his angels." 

" ' While I lived, you know that it was my great desire to have 
you all around me and near me here ; but my great desire has 
been to have you with me in the world to come. Believe me, 
nothing could make me so happy as to have my three poor dear 
children there ; yes, and your children, and all your connexions. I 
would wish to take you all to heaven. Then, think of the vanity 
of this world, — think of Jesus the Saviour, — death, — -judgment, 
and eternity ; and don't forget the living and dying desire of your 
most affectionate mother till death, and after death. 

'"Elizabeth Steele.' 

'* Folded in the foregoing letter was also found, in her own 
liandwriling, the following prayer, which must please every pious 
mind : 

. " ' Oh Lord, my God, thou great Three-One ! I give myself to 
thee this day, to be thine, to be guided by thee, and not by an- 
other : and I desire to take God for my God, — Jesus Christ to be 
my Saviour, — the Holy Ghost to be my sanctifier and leader. 
Lord, thou hast promised that all that will come unto thee thou 
wilt in nowise cast out. All I beg, is in the name and for the sake 
of Jesus Christ, my Lord. 

" ' To this I set my hand, " ' Elizabeth Steele.' 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 357 

" The date of the above was either not affixed, or was torn 
from the paper. It cannot be disagreeable to the serious mind to 
add, that she was remarkably fond of the following hymn, and left 
it in her Bible, where it was found since her death, in the hand- 
writing of her grand-daughter, who had transcribed it for her • 

" ' The hour of my departure's come, 
I hear a voice that calls me home ; 
At last, Lord, let trouble cease, 
And let thy servant die in peace, 
The race appointed I have run. 
The combat o'er, the prize is won, 
And now my witness is on high, 
And now my record 's in the sky. 
Not in mine innocence I trust, 
I bow before thee in the dust, 
And through my Saviour's blood alone 
I hope for mercy at thy throne. 
I come ! I come ! at thy command, 
I yield my spirit to thy hand; 
Stretch forth thy everlasting arms. 
And shield me in these last alarms.' 

" It would be a severe and ill-natured reflection on the religious 
taste of the present age to be making apologies for publishing the 
above memoirs ; and, therefore, no apology shall be made. It is 
a debt due to an amiable character, and may not be without its use 
to the public. 

[" The above is published at tJic j'equest of the Rev. Samuel E. 
M'Corkle."] 

About the year 1785, Dr. M'Corkle commenced a classical 
school at his house, which stood on the great road from Salisbury 
to Statesville, in an eligible situation, with the avenue leading to it, 
so common in the western part of North Carolina, at a moderate 
distance from the meeting-house, which is about nine miles west 
of Salisbury. In connection with his classical school was a de- 
partment for preparing school teachers. Poor and pious young 
men were taught free of expense for tuition, and were also assisted 
by him to books necessary for their instruction. If young men of 
good talents were wild or not studious, his rule was to talk with 
them in private, and if the desired reformation did not take place, 
to avoid any exposure, he would write to their parents or guardi- 
ans to withdraw them. And if he, upon mature deliberation, 
judged the children committed to his charge, to be below medio- 
crity, in point of talents, he invariably discouraged their being 
trained to a classical course. On account of these principles 



358 SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

which he carried into action, he sent out a less number of classical 
students, but a greater amount of piety and talents. 

The first class, that was graduated at the State University at 
Chapel Hill, consisted of seven scholars ; six of these had been 
pupils of Mr. McCorkle. His students were, in after life, found 
on the Bench, in the chair of State, and forty-Jive of them in the 
pulpit. The number of ministers is given on the authority of Mrs. 
McCorkle, who survived her husband about fifteen years. 

It appears from the North Carolina Journal that at a meeting 
of the board of trustees of the North Carolina University, Dec. 
8th, 1795, the board, after resolving that the state of the funds 
did not permit the choice of a president, and that his duties must 
be fulfilled by the first professor, made choice of the Rev. Samuel 
E. McCorkle, Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy, and 
Histor}'-, and the Rev. David Kerr, Professor of Languages, and 
Charles W, Harris, Professor of Mathematics ; Mr. Delvaux, and 
Mr. Holmes, tutors in the preparator)" school. On account of 
some objections made by General Davie, one of the board, which 
led to a correspondence between him and the Hon. John Steele, 
brother-in-law of Mr. McCorkle, and which were followed by an 
apology, the appointment was not accepted. Mr. McCorkle^s 
desire for the advancement of the University, in opposition to 
every selfish feeling, led him to desire harmony in the board, in 
preference to the honor of being the first and presiding Professor. 
His attachment to the University was undoubted and unwaver- 
ing ; he made excursions to raise funds for its use ; he attended 
the laying the corner stone of the first building erected on the 
University grounds, and delivered an address ; his pupils com- 
posed the first class of graduates, almost entire, and he was on 
the list of the first named board of trustees. His declining the 
ofiEice of first Professor made way for the exercise of talent by 
that successful man, under whom, by the blessing of God, the 
university arose to its influence and respectability, of late so 
widely spread by his successor. 

The bounds of Thyatira were, like all the other congregations 
whose limits were settled by Messrs. Spencer and McWhorter, 
very extensive, embracing many settlements that had desired 
preaching, and had engaged the labors of missionaries. This 
congregation bordering on the Yadkin nortliward, and southwest- 
ward on Centre, which reached the Catawba, westwardly on Fourth 
Creek and Bethany, in Iredell, and southwardly on Poplar Tent, 
and eastwardly without limits, presented an abundance of labor 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 359 

for a pastor. Third Creek was soon formed from the middle 
ground between the churches in Iredell and Thyatira, and has 
been from the first a flourishing congregation. Under the pastoral 
labors of Rev. Joseph D. Kilpatrick, whose name appears on the 
roll of Synod as ordained by Orange Presbytery, 1793, it enjoyed 
numerous times of refreshing from on high. While McCorkle 
stood in doubt about the great excitement which began in 1801 in 
Orange, Kilpatrick's heart grew warm, and with many of his 
people went to take part in the great meeting in Randolph, the 
effect of which was great upon the churches "beyond the 
Yadkin." He found no difficulty in welcoming the revival on 
account of the irregularities accompanying. In fact, it is not now 
easy to determine whether in his later life he considered " the 
exercises " a necessary part, or only an accidental appendage of 
the work. But it is evident they never gave him any trouble. 
If he could but see his people cultivating what he esteemed a 
proper religious feeling, it mattered little to him what external 
motions came with it. Some little time before his death, at a 
communion service in his congregation, a great excitement pre- 
vailed ; and as cries for mercy and prayers arose on all sides of 
the house during an interval of preaching, the old gentleman wit- 
nessing the excitement for a time, turned to a young gentleman 
from Virginia, " it does my heart good to hear these young people 
pray so." 

Two of his sons entered the ministry. One, Josiah, a preacher 
of acceptable talent, came to an early grave in Fayettevillc, being 
cut off after about one year's service. The other, Abner W., died 
in Tennessee in the year 1844. 

Back Creek was set off in 1805 as a separate congregation. 
The revival of 1802 had great effect upon the neighborhoods form- 
ing this congregation, and made them desire a separate church ca- 
pacity ; and times of refreshing have been granted them since in 
the kind providence of God. Activity in religion has been one of 
the characteristics of this church, which at its organization pos- 
sessed an eldership of peculiar excellence. It has sent out some 
ministers of the gospel who have been blessed from on high. One 
of Mc Aden's resting-places was with a family in this congregation. 

Mr. McCorkle preached frequently in Salisbury, but had no 
separate congregation there. About the years 1803 and 1804 Dr. 
McRee preached in that place statedly once a month. From the 
year 1807 to 1809 the Rev. John Brown preached here statedly, 
and was principal of the Academy. He removed first to South 



360 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Carolina and then to Georgia, and there closed his useful life. A 
memorial of him belongs properly to the South Carolina and 
Georgia synod. Till the year 1821 the people of Salisbury had 
no stated Presbyterian preacher, having only the occasional ser- 
vices of missionaries ; in that year a church was gathered under 
the labors of Rev. Jonathan Freeman, D.D., consisting of thirteen 
members, three of vi^hom were appointed elders. In the year 
1826 the Rev. Dr. Freeman laid the corner stone of the present 
Presbyterian house of worship. In 1831 the Rev. Thomas Espy 
became stated supply of this church ; his health failing, he gave 
up the charge, and soon rested from all his labors. 

The memory of such a man as Thomas Espy demands a more 
extended notice than the limits of the present article will admit ; 
a brief notice, however, will bring it to a close. Being engaged 
but a comparatively short time in the ministry, he was blessed of 
God both to do good, and to stir up others to do good, in an unu- 
sual degree. 

Mr. McCorkle was indefatigable in his efforts to improve his 
flock in the knowledge of divine things. Besides his usual ser- 
vices of preaching, he conducted a Bible class on a somewhat 
peculiar plan. In a note to a sermon printed in 1792, he says — 
" Here I beg leave briefly to suggest to my brethren, the plan of 
catechising from the Scriptures, as the platform or ground of a 
Catechism. I have proceeded from Genesis to Job, and through 
part of the four Evangelists ; and I design, if God permit, to pro- 
ceed on to the end, asking questions that lead to reading and re- 
flection. I have found it profitable to myself and my people, and 
can venture to say that as far as I have proceeded, there is not a 
congregation on the continent better acquainted with the Scrip- 
tures." 

" The congregation I have divided into a number of divisions of 
fifteen or sixteen families each, assigning to each division a set of 
written questions, from one part of one or two books, as they may 
be long or short, in each Testament ; catechising in the morning 
from the Old, in the afternoon from the New Testament, and 
closing by calling on the youth to repeat the shorter Catechism." 

" This set of Scriptural questions, thus examined, we pass to 
the next division of the congregation, who often attend as specta- 
tors, knowing that they are next to be examined on the same ques- 
tions. Thus in rotation every individual will be examined on 
every part of the Bible." 

His daughter says, the divisions were eight in number ; and tliat 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 361 

an elder was attached to each division ; to this elder, he gave the 
copy of questions, and the elder supplied the division. In the ex- 
amination he never publicly questioned tlie elders, they met him 
at his own house. The children were early brought to say their 
catechism ; and the parents were reproved or commended accord- 
ing to the proficiency manifested in the examination. 

In his preparation for the pulpit, he made free use of his pen ; 
but did not confine himself to his manuscript, or notes ; and some- 
times did not even use notes. In a note to a printed sermon, he 
says, " He would never be seen in the pulpit without full notes, 
when he was to treat on a disputed or argumentative subject ; on 
other occasions, he would use his discretion, whether to preach 
from notes or without." In this, he is to be imitated. 

He published a number of sermons ; four on the subject of 
Infidelity, as it was brought out in the United States, during the 
French Revolution ; feeling with his brethren, that all that was 
dear to man was at stake ; — one on the principle and practice of 
giving to charitable and benevolent objects ; — one on the terms of 
Christian communion ; — and one on the death of General Wash 
ington. The latter is one of peculiar excellence, abounding with 
sound morality, pure philosophy, and true religion. 

In person, he was tall, about six feet one inch ; finely formed ; 
light hair and pale blue eyes ; mild, grave, and dignified in his 
appearance ; cheerful in his disposition ; and of fine conversational 
powers. Firm in his opinions, and devotedly attached to the doc- 
trines of the Presbyterian church, he never attacked, unnecessarily, 
the opinions or forms of others. In appearance and gait, he is 
said to have very much resembled Mr. Jefferson. During a visit 
to Philadelphia, while Mr. JelTcrson was there, this resemblance, 
noticed by many, led to an introduction ; and bolli parties retired 
from the interview, with expressions of satisfaction. 

The pulpit instructions of Mr. McCorkle abounded with argu- 
ment and observation founded upon common sense, and were 
enriched by his historical and literary reading ; and the people 
that grew up under his care, were well instructed in religion and 
morals. His care in attending the judicatories of the church, is 
worthy of imitation ; and his respect for the decisions of his 
brethren, when pronounced judicially, was such as to make him 
especially careful in selecting delegates to the Assembly. If but 
one delegate were to be sent, he preferred a brother of age and 
experience ; if two were to be sent, he desired that there should 
be one of the older and one of the younger members of Presby- 



362 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tery, that experience might be gained by the one, and might 
grow under the influence of the other. 

At the commencement of the great revival in 1802, in Orange, 
Mr. McCorkle was disinchned to beheve in its purity, on account 
of the " exercises" that accompanied. Being persuaded to attend 
the meeting in Randolph, his mind underwent a change, as ap- 
pears from the letter published in the pamphlet prepared by Dr. 
Hall, which makes a part of the twenty-seventh chapter of this 
volume. 

Although brought to believe in the revival, as a work of God, he 
ever looked upon these " exercises," and some accompanying ex- 
travagances, as profane mixtures, against which hfe bore open 
testimony. He rather tolerated than approved camp-meetings ; 
and sometimes was opposed to them, especially as standing, 
regular means of instruction or excitement. It is probable that the 
ministers of the Presbyterian church, in Carolina generally, now 
look upon them, much in the light that he did, as being matters of 
prudence and discretion, and possessing no peculiar sanctity in 
themselves, or special efficiency for growth in grace and divine 
knowledge ; that their use or disadvantage must be judged of by 
circumstances. 

The pastor of Thyatira received his death-warrant in the pulpit, 
being struck with palsy while conducting the services of the sanc- 
tuary. His labors as a minister ceased, but his services as a 
suffering man were continued for some years. For a time, his 
disorder affected his mental powers ; and though his mind became 
clear, his body never regained its tone and vigor. In 1807, the 
Presbytery required the congregations of Thyatira and Back 
Creek to pay a proper attention to the circumstances and condi- 
tion of the man, who had given the strength of his manhood to 
their service. Whether this was altogether as a mark of respect, 
and for a good example, is not now easily ascertained, nor of any 
practical importance. The example of Presbytery, in the case of - 
aged and infirm ministers, is truly commendable ; should the aged 
servant die unhonored by his brethren or his people ? 

On the 21st June, 1811, he ceased from his trials. His funeral 
was conducted according to directions left by himself in writing. 
The text for the funeral sermon was Job xix., 25, 26 : " For I know 
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter 
day upon the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." The nineteenth Psalm— 
" Through every age Eternal God " — and the sixty-first Hymn of 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS. 363 

Watts's second book — " My soul, come meditate the da}^" were 
sung in the church. The elders, attired in black, sat together by 
the corpse before the pulpit, which, out of respect, was also attired 
in mourning. As the body was borne to the grave, the congrega- 
tion sang, " Hark ! from the tombs a doleful sound." 

Thomas Espy was born August 1st, 1800, in Cumberland 
County, Pennsylvania. Ere he saw the light, his pious parents 
had besought the blessing of God for the child ; and it was espe- 
cially the wish and prayer of the mother that the child might be a 
son, and he a minister of the gospel of Christ. Sprightlmess of 
mind and activity of body characterized him from his early infancy 
till his death. But with it, also, from his very early years, a 
thoughtfulness and a disposition to inquire and ponder on religious 
things, which was ripened into deep seriousness in his 10th year, 
during a revival of religion in the congregation in Beaver County, 
to which his parents belonged, under the care of the Rev. Thomas 
E. Hughes. His convictions at this time were deep and sorely 
distressing, and accompanied with some strong temptations, but 
were not followed by those exercises of faith and hope that satis- 
fied his mind in more mature years, though the sense of religious 
things did not leave him, nor was he guilty of outbreaking sins. 

When about ten years of age, he commenced the study of the 
languages with Mr. Hughes, his pastor, and, after pursuing these 
to some length with him, he was sent to the academy in the neigh- 
borhood, and then went through the usual academical classic course, 
together with some branches of the mathematics. Here his edu- 
cation was, for a time, suspended by adverse circumstances in his 
father's situation ; and for some two or three years he labored on 
the farm, and ultimately engaged in teaching a small school, at the 
same time reading medical books under the direction of a physi- 
cian in the neighborhood. 

While thus engaged, he was led by the grace of God to a good 
hope in Christ ; and as soon as he obtained a comfortable assur- 
ance of acceptance in Christ, he longed to preach the gospel to 
others. He united with the church by a public profession, about 
the year 1820, desiring to preach the gospel, but not seeing any 
way by which he might come into that desirable labor. 

After pursuing the study of medicine about two years, he re- 
ceived from an uncle whom he had gone to visit, a proposition of 
assistance to complete his college course. Delighted with the 
prospect, he immediately entered Washington College, then hav- 



364 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ing for its president the Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., and pursued 
his studies with vigor, looking forward to the ministry. 

He was graduated in the year 1824, taking the second honor 
from a competitor who had been taught in the Westminster schooL 
In the month of February, 1825, he went to Romney, Hampshire 
County, Virginia, and taught school, and commenced reading the- 
ology in preparation for the ministry. In the fall of that year, he 
removed to Jefferson County, in the same State, and lived in the 
family of Mrs. Dandridge as tutor : with this lady he continued 
about two years, teaching her children and pursuing his theologi- 
cal studies. On the 11th of April, 1827, he received license to 
preach the gospel, from the Presbytery of Winchester, which held 
its sessions in Middleburg, Fauquier County. In the November 
following, he became a member of the Theological Seminary, 
Princeton. 

During his residence in Romney and at Mrs. Dandndge's, his 
conscientious walk and Christian conversation made a deep im- 
pression in favor of his simple-hearted piety. Without ostenta- 
tion, without knowing the fact himself, he produced a deep con- 
viction on the young people of his acquaintance of two things, 
viz. : that there is a reality in experimental piety, and that' he pos- 
sessed the reality. He exhibited a happy mixture of modesty and 
independence, that won the favor of the community, never thrusting 
himself forward as for praise or ostentation, and never shrinking 
from duty through alarm, or withholding a frank avowal of the 
truth and his opinion what was truth, through any sinister motive. 

While at Princeton, his letters to his friends in Virginia breathed 
a spirit of exalted piety and unaffected devotion to the cause of his 
Lord and Master, which endeared him still more to their hearts. 
Like as his prayers had been in the prayer meetings, his letters 
touched the heart and drew it out in earnost desires for more grace, 
and knowledge of God. Were there space for the admission of a 
few of his letters, his friends in Carolina would recognize the 
future preacher, in the sentiments which fell from his pen, unstu- 
died and in rich abundance ; no scintillations of genius, but sparks 
of true celestial fire ; no aspirations of a lofty mind, but the feel- 
ings of a lively faith. 

In the spring of 1828, he received a commission from the 
" Young Men's Missionary Society of Concord Presbytery," and 
served as their missionary in Burke county for about a year. His 
labors are not yet forgotten. After his term of engagement ex- 
pired, he was invited to preach in different congregations, and 



THYATIRA AND HER MINISTERS, 365 

commenced his labors in Centre, in Iredell, and Bethel, formerly 
a part of Centre, in Mecklenburg county. On the 10th of May, 
1830, he was ordained evangelist at Centre, having declined being 
set apart for the services of a particular congregation. For a time 
his services here were much blessed ; but unhappily a collision of 
opinions and practice on the subject of baptism broke up his pros- 
pects of usefulness to that degree, his friends judged a removal 
prudent. The congregation had been accustomed, under their for- 
mer pastor, to see the ordinance of baptism administered to chil- 
dren of parents who had been baptized, whether they had made 
public profession or not. To this custom Mr. Espy felt strongly 
opposed, and expressed his opposition with his usual frankness and 
decision, believing that the ordinance ought to be administered to 
children of professors only. There were some unhappy circum- 
stances attending this collision which distressed him greatly both 
in body and mind, which need not be repeated ; their interest was 
local. 

In the spring of 1831 he removed to Salisbury, and about the 
same time was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Louisa Tate, of 
Burke county, a lady altogether worthy of him. In Salisbury his 
labors were greatly blessed, to tlie building up of the church in 
faith and in numbers. He excelled in the pastoral office ; his 
counsels were so plain, his reproofs so kind and direct, his exhorta- 
tions so earnest, and his example so impressive, he gained his 
people's love, as he built them up in the most holy faith. 

In February, 1832, he was seized with a hemorrhage of the 
lungs, which put an end, in a great measure, to all his pulpit ex- 
ercises. Of middling stature, a slender frame, and somewhat 
delicate constitution, he had permitted his ardent desire to build 
up the cause of Christ to lead him to efforts in public speaking be- 
yond his strength. In many places the cause of religion was 
exciting unusual attention about this time. His ardent heart made 
him forgetful of himself, — and, in consequence of a cold caught 
during a series of appointments in the fall of 1831, his lungs gave 
way, and he was able to preach no more. 

His sickness and death preached eloquently. Blessed of God 
to win souls to Christ in his ministry, his success was continued 
to his last breath, some being hopefully converted by witnessing 
his Christian spirit in his last hours. A brother in the ministry, 
who knew him well, in whose house Mr. Espy endured a part of 
his last illness, said of him, in a letter some time after his decease, 
— " I knew him well, perhaps no one on earth knew him better, 



366 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and I feel no hesitation in saying that, in many important respects, 
I have never known his equal. Mr. Espy was an eminently holy 
man. I was intimate with him when in health, and a great deal 
in his company during his protracted illness, and my impression 
is, that I have never known any one who lived so near Christ. 
His religion was not enthusiasm, but a tender and unwavering 
confidence in the Saviour. He repeatedly told me, that, during all 
his sickness, he never entertained a doubt in regard to his situation. 
Once, when we thought him dying, and were all weeping around 
his bed, he said to me, ' these friends are all mistaken — this is the 
happiest hour I ever saw.' " 

The last few weeks of his life were passed at the house of R. 
H. Burton, Esq., near Beattie's Ford, in the bounds of Unity con- 
gregation, by whom he was held in the highest esteem. On the 
16th of April, 1833, he breathed his last, in full hope of a joyful 
resurrection. His body was carried to Salisbury, and interred 
near the west corner of the frame church, on the skirts of the 
town, a spot occupied for a long time by the Presbyterians and 
Lutherans for public worship, and still as the place for the burial 
of their dead. His wife survived him a few years, and passed 
away, leaving an orphan daughter. " Blessed are the dead that 
die in the Lord." 

" Mr. Espy," says a brother in the ministry who knew him well, 
" possessed a quickness of apprehension and a patience of inves- 
tigation rarely found in combination. He was not what is gene- 
rally called a popular preacher ; but he was something a great 
deal better. His voice was too effeminate to permit him to have 
great and immediate power over a large promiscuous congregation, 
such as we southern preachers have often to grapple with. I do 
not mean to leave the impression that he was not an interesting 
preacher. To those who wished to listen to the truth he was emi- 
nently interesting. 

" The most distinguishing features of his preaching were great 
point, and a prominent exhibition of the Saviour. Emphatically 
he preached Christ to the people. You will be prepared to be 
told that he was a successful minister. He was useful wherever 
he preached any length of time, but more so in Salisbury than 
anywhere else. There is a people here that will never forget 
him. 

" It is the impression of others, as well as myself, that Mr. 
Espy did much to raise the tone of ministerial piety in this Pres- 
bytery." 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 36' 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

REV. JAMES m'gREADY, AND THE REVIVAL OF 1800. 

The name of McGready is connected with revivals. Pie was blessed 
in being an instrument of a revival of religion in North Carolina, 
in his early ministry, the salutary effects of which are felt at this day 
in churches in different States, enjoying the labors of faithful men, 
that then came in to the visible church of Christ, on profession of 
faith. Subsequently, he was honored of God to be the first agent, 
that moved successfully in breaking up the deep sleep that weighed 
down the Christian public, and was personally active in the com- 
mencement of that revival that began in 1800, in Kentucliy, and 
soon was felt in Tennessee and Ohio ; in 1802, on to 1804, was 
enjoyed in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. 
The fruits of this revival remain to this day, and will be felt in their 
remote consequences for ever, in these United States, and wherever 
else the Gospel has been preached, by those who may be considered 
the fruits, more or less direct, of this great display of the Divine 
Spirit upon the hearts of men. 

There has been no memoir of tl\is man given to the world ; but 
it is not right for the church community to let his memory perish. 
To have looked at him, in his early days, as he was laboring in the 
fields in Carolina ; or to have seen him when he was become angry 
that an honest man doubted his religion ; or to have listened to him 
when he passed through Virginia, at the close of the revival, under 
Smith and Graham, we probably should not have said this is the 
man whom God has chosen to put in motion the whole community, 
on the greatest of all subjects, and the one to which the human 
heart is most averse. But God sees not as man sees, and he chooses 
whom he will for his divine purposes of mercy, both as agent and 
recipient. Let man honor whom God honors ; and let us rejoice in 
him whom God first made a vessel of mercy, and then a jewel of 
honor. 

In the preface to a volume of sermons, which a few years ago 
were published from his papers, in Louisville, there is a brief ac- 
count of the commencement of the revival in Kentucky, drawn up 
by his hand. In the preface to the second volume, which appeared 
some time after, is the apology of the Editor, for not fulfilling ex- 



3()8 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLLNA. 

pectations he had excited in the first, of having a memoir of the 
able and blessed servant of God, whose sermons he was sending out 
to the world, and informs the public that he had entirely failed in 
obtaining any information about his early life and labors. McGready 
left no son, and no memoranda of himself, among his papers, except 
the short account of the commencement of the revival ; modestly 
estimating himself, and his labors, and usefulness, he was wilhng to 
wait the developments of the Great day, and abide the providence 
of God. 

At several different times, in the year 184.3, the Rev. Ebenezer 
B. Currie, of Orange Presbytery, who was a pupil of McGready in 
his youth, gave the writer an extended account of the labors and 
successes of that eminent servant of God, and is the authority for the 
principal facts in his early history, and very many respecting his 
maturer years. He, the Rev. James Hall, D.D., and S. E. 
McCorkle, D.D., are the authority for the statements about the 
revival in North Carolina. They all speak of things they saw and 
heard and knew. 

The parents of McGready were of the Scotch-Irish race, but 
whether they emigrated from Ireland, or were born in Pennsylvania, 
is not now known. When he was quite young, they removed to 
Carolina, and settled in Buffalo congregation, in Guilford county, 
near where Greensboro, now stands, about the time that Dr. Caldwell 
became the pastor of the congregation, which is now occupied by 
Mr. Caruthers. Here James passed part of his boyish days, and part 
of his youth, in such labor, as persons of no -very extensive property 
were, in those years, accustomed to in Carolina. 

The sedateness of the youth and his punctuality in religious duties, 
united to a desire for mental improvement, so pleased an uncle of 
his, wdio was on a visit at his father's, that he conceived the idea of 
having James educated for the ministry, and prevailed on the parents 
to consent to his taking his son with him to Pennsylvania to secure 
an education in preparation to his pi'caching the gospel. His uncle 
believed him to be religious ; he thought so himself. In speaking of 
these, his early days and impressions, Mi". McGready used to say that 
he never omitted private prayer from the time he was seven years 
old, and having been preserved from outbreaking sins, from profane 
swearing, from intoxication, and sabbath breaking, and other ex- 
cesses, he had begun to think that he was sanctified from his birth. 
When about seventeen years of age he united in the communion of the 
church, professing a full belief in the doctrines of the Bible, in which 
he had been carefully instructed, and in the formulary, the catechism 



REV. JAMES m'gready. 369 

of the Westminster Assembly, in which, at that time, all children of 
Presbyterian congregations were reverently taught. 

While he was studying for the ministry, fully satisfied of his own 
interest in the redemption of Christ, an incident occurred that 
destroyed all his peace. He overheard a conversation between the 
gentleman with whom he boarded and a neighbor who had stepped 
in one day. " Do you think," said the neighbor, " that this young 
man you have studying here has got any religion ?" " No," said 
the gentleman, " not a spark." The meaning was, that he did not 
think him a converted man, and that he, of course, had not felt in 
his heart the doctrines of grace. McGready felt himself much 
aggrieved at this opinion, and peculiarly at this expression of it; 
and resolved to change his abode, not willing to live any longer with 
one that thought so little of his piety or his knowledge of religion. 
After the first rush of his indignation had somewhat subsided, the 
thought arose in his mind, that perhaps there might be some ground 
for the gentleman's unfavorable opinion. He, therefore, commenced 
a thorough examination of his principles of belief, his practice, and 
his feelings. Of his princijjles of belief, after examination, he was 
satisfied that they were correct. Of his practice, it appeared to him 
that he loved what the Scripture required, and turned away from 
those things the word of God forbade. Thus far hq felt safe. But 
when he came to eK.?imme liis feelings, io try them by such passages 
as, being "filled with the spirit ; filled with joy ; filled with the 
Holy Ghost ; joy of the Holy Ghost ; ike fruit of the spirit is 
love, joy, peace,'" it seemed to him that he did not understand these 
things experimentally. Like Paul, " When the commandment came, 
sin revived and he died." The conflict in his soul was severe and 
protracted. He said that the first actual sin of which he felt con- 
victed was his having communed improperly ; and then the sin of 
his whole life stood up before him in awful array. He had no rest 
in his soul till he believed Christ gave him peace in believing, and 
his heart tasted some of the joys of the Holy Ghost. 

This part of his experience gave a peculiar cast to his preaching 
through life, and made it peculiarly pungent in Carolina, where he 
commenced his labors. Through life he was famous for pointing 
out the hiding-places of the hypocrite and self-deceived, and bring- 
ing out the thoughts of men's hearts and revealing to them their 
secret purposes, and setting them at war in their own souls, lead, 
them to Christ Jesus for peace. Formal professors had generally a 
very great dislike to him, accusing him of personality and undue 
severity. 

24 



370 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Redstone Presbytery gave him license to preach M-hen he was 
about thirty years of age. His education was finished under Dr. 
McMilhm, the founder of the Literary and Theological school, that 
ultimately grew into Cannonsburg College, the first institution of 
the kind west of the Alleghanies. Three institutions were com- 
menced by the Scotch-Irish before the Revolution ; one in Western 
Pennsylvania, one in the valley of Virginia, and one in Charlotte, 
North Carolina. The latter was broken up during the Revolution ; 
the two former are now flourishing institutions. Dr. McMillan was 
the means of rearing many useful preachers, by whom the wants of 
the rising West were for a time supplied. 

After his licensure, McGready returned to Carolina to visit his 
connexions. On his way he passed through the places in Virginia 
visited by the Revival, w^hich spread so far and wide under the 
ministrations of J. B. Smith and William Graham, in 1788 and 
1789. He made some stay in Prince Edward, at Hampden Sydney 
College, then under the care of Mr. Smith, that eminently success- 
ful minister of Christ. With his heart w^armed by what he heard 
and saw, and cheered in his soul with the expectations of good to 
come from the Great Head of the church to Zion, through the in- 
strumentality of the excellent young men he saw in preparation for 
the ministry, and of whom Pattillo speaks encouragingly in his 
letter to Synod in 1793, he reached Guilford, prepared to bear a 
testimony to men in favor of divine truth in its spiritual application. 

The form of religious instruction and worship had been continued 
by the churches in Carolina, with commendable exactness, during 
the trying scenes of the Revolutionary war. The attention to cate- 
chetical instruction in families had not much abated. But the life 
and spirit of religion had suffered much from the necessary irregu- 
larity in attending on the public ordinances, and from the harass- 
ing cares and indescribable vexations and suffering from the pro- 
tracted campaigns of Cornwallis, preceding the battle of Guilford 
Court-house. There was much true piety nourished in the congre- 
gations, and much of the heavenly temper cherished in the closet 
and family circle ; but much formality had also come in, and close 
upon its footsteps outbreaking sin. The march of armies is marked 
by plunder and vice ; and dissipation and immorality follow in 
their train. The most moral and retired neighborhood suddenly found 
themselves in the track of hostile forces, and felt the moral shock in 
their families with painful sensibility. 

As the subjects naturally presented for discussion, during the 
contest between the colonies and the mother country, by the patri- 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 371 

otic Presbyterian ministers, were of a general nature — more often 
referring to the wise providence of God ; the necessity of contend- 
ing for liberty of conscience, of person, and of property ; the pro- 
priety of resistance to blood in a good cause, than to the more spi- 
ritual and devotional duties of the gospel ; it came to pass that the 
subjects of experimental religion were less insisted upon or heeded 
than they might have been, or than they had been in former and 
more quiet times. It is not to be understood that the standard of 
piety or morality was either intentionally abrogated or changed, 
but the subjects pertaining to the war in which all were involved, 
assumed a paramount controlling influence, and the sacred fire 
burned less purely in the congregation and the family ; and the 
scenes of bloodshed and plunder witnessed so frequently, hardened 
the heart against the commands of God. 

After the settlement of peace, many things were found to have 
crept into at least some of the congregations in Carolina, which 
could not be justified or tolerated ; more easily introduced than 
eradicated ; more clamorously defended than adroitly extenuated. 
Parties for dancing were considered by many as harmless as they 
w^ere fascinating ; the use of spirituous liquors had become more 
free and dangerous ; and in some neighborhoods horse-racing was 
tolerated as an innocent amusement, from which improvement of the 
breed of useful animals might be looked for as a natural consequence. 
All had sought for freedom of opinion and of conscience through the 
mortal strife of the Revolution ; and many considered freedom from 
moral obligation as part of civil liberty. It is scarcely to be won- 
dered at, though much to be mourned over, that in breaking down 
the opposition to religious freedom, and the unjustifiable hindrances 
to the exercise of religious liberty, the necessary barriers to vice and 
transgression should receive a severe shock, and even some of the 
outworks be broken down. 

Among other things of a very objectionable nature which had 
become prevalent, was the habit of distributing spirituous liquors at 
funerals. Provisions of some kind were set out, commonly before 
the door, or carried round in baskets, and spirits offered freely to 
those who desired. The solemnity of the occasion was sometimes 
lost in the excitement, and scenes of drinking invaded the house of 
mourning. To preserve the appearance of religion, some one, 
an officer of the church, if present,"was called upon to open the 
scene of eating and drinking by asking a blessing on the refresh- 
ments prepared. 

Mr. McGready attended a funeral soon after his return to Guil- 



372 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ford, and in compliment to the young minister just returned, he 
was called upon to ask a blessing that they might commence their 
drinking. " No," he replied, " I will not be guilty of insulting 
God by asking a blessing upon what I know to be wrong." A 
great sensation was produced, and McGready stood up for his de- 
fence, a champion not to be despised, large in form, some six feet 
high, of prominent features, grave in demeanor, solemn in speech, 
plain and neat in his style of dress, unaffected in his manners, with 
a powerful voice, and somewhat ungainly in his address, with the 
appearance of great weight and bodily strength. 

The attention of the neighborhood being turned to him, he com- 
menced preaching along Haw River, and in various other places in 
Guilford. His first sermons were to alarm church members. Under 
his ministrations very many gave up their hopes of salvation which 
they had been cherishing, and confessed themselves deceived hypo- 
crites. Under his searching addresses they felt themselves to be, as 
he had been, unworthy to be acknowledged members of Christ's 
visible church, and abhorred themselves in dust and ashes. He 
would often say to them, " An unworthy communicant in such cir- 
cumstances as yours, is more offensive to Almighty God than a 
loathsome carcase crawling with vermin set before a dainty prince." 

His pulpit preparations, while he lived in Carolina, were made 
with much study ; what were his habits after removing to the West 
is not known. In Carolina he used to devote some two days of 
each week in writing out his sermons for Sabbath with great care. 
He considered the word of God as truth to be taken for granted, 
and of course not to be reasoned about as if to be proved, but to 
be explained and enforced by the various considerations presented 
b}' revelation itself, by man's condition, and by providence. His 
written discourses were carefully perused and re-perused before he 
appeared in public, but w^ere never seen in the pulpit. By his care 
in preparation the subject was sufficiently impressed upon his mind 
for him to speak with fluency and correctness without reference to 
notes. His spoken sermons were much longer than his prepara- 
tions, the different heads being more fully explained, and the appli- 
cation very much enlarged. The volumes of sermons printed at 
Louisville a few years since, were composed of preparations of this 
sort. The Rev. Mr. Currie, who was for a time his pupil, recollects 
to have heard some of those sermons delivered in Carolina. From 
these circumstances the printed sermons, exhibiting much good 
thought and power of language, will be less impressive than the 
discourses that fell from his lips, possessing all the excellences of 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 373 

the written ones, and enriched by the tide of feeling from a burning 
heart. 

He excelled in public prayer, and the prayer before sermon was 
usually long, free from repetitions, and filled with earnest wrestlings 
with God for the assembled people. Often the congregation was 
in tears, under the influence of his devotions. 

In his delivery he was always solemn, and sometimes very ani- 
mated from the commencement. Generally he began very calm 
and waxed warmer as he progressed, and in the application was 
always fervent. Avoiding metaphysical discussions, he preached 
the plain word of God with much point and great plainness and 
effect. To his hearers he often seemed a " Son of Thunder," and 
always a warm experimental Cahinistic preacher. 

The congregations in which his labors were more particularly 
expended, were Haw River and Stony Creek. Haw River has de- 
clined from being a congregation ; the place of preaching is re- 
moved and is now called Gum Grove. Stony Creek is still a 
congregation and enjoys the labors of a pastor. In these congre- 
gations, and wherever else he preached in the neighboring charges, 
the excitement on the subject of religion was great, and the in- 
quiry about experimental godliness became very general. After he 
had been in Carolina about a year, he was married to a Miss 
Nancy Thompson, from the bounds of Redstone Presbytery, in 
Pennsylvania, and took his residence some three or four miles be- 
low^ High Rock, about midway between his two congregations. A 
school was opened at his house, under his direction, but taught 
principally by his brother, who was himself pursuing a course of 
study. This location being near his parents' residence, Mr. Currie 
attended upon its instruction for a length of time, and under the 
preaching of Mr. McGready became permanently impressed with a 
sense of religion, which was ultimately ripened into a desire to 
preach the gospel. 

Buffalo and Alamance, the congregations of Dr. Caldwell, re- 
ceived many profitable visits from Mr. McGready, who frequently 
called upon the school under the Dr.'s care, and became a favorite 
of the students. His intercourse with these young men had an 
abiding influence over their hearts and lives. Many became hope- 
fully pious in consequence of his exhortations and instructions. At 
one time he lay confined by great debility of body, brought on by 
excessive labors, and a consequent fit of sickness, and was very 
kindly and assiduously attended upon by the more serious of the 
young men. He used occasionally to send for the more thoughtless, 



374 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and hold a short conversation with them on the subject of their sal- 
vation ; and seldom did any one, says Mr. Currie, leave him with- 
out tears. One young man made himself merry at the tenderness 
of the others, till one day McGready sent for him for an interview, 
from which he in a short time returned, more deeply affected than 
the others by the kindness and solemnity of the manner, and the 
importance of the subjects presented to his mind. 

The excitement that spread over the congregation of Hawfields, 
Cross Roads, Alamance, Buffalo, Stony Creek, Bethlehem. Haw 
River, Eno, and the churches in Granville, and those on the Hico 
and the waters of the Dan, was great, and ultimately exceedingly- 
beneficial. Dr. Caldwell, a very sound but dispassioned preacher, 
stood by him and improved the influences in his o^v^l congregations. 
Cross Roads and Hawfields were vacant at the commencement of 
the revival. Mr. John Debow, the successor of Henry Pattillo the 
first pastor, who is spoken of by tradition as an excellent preacher, 
had died in September, 1783, and lies buried in the church-yard at 
Hawfields. His brother-in-law, a Mr. Lake, preached to the con- 
gregation for a time ; and under his ministrations the congregation 
of Cross Roads was set off, composed of portions of Hawfields, Eno, 
and Stony Creek. The next preacher was cotemporary with 
McGready, a Mr. Hodge. He had been hopefully converted under 
the preaching of Mr. Debow, and had commenced preparation for 
the ministry ; but had become discouraged after the death of his 
pastor and abandoned his design. Mr. McGready's preaching kin- 
dled his desire anew, and finishing his preparatory studies with Dr. 
Caldwell he commenced his labors as a minister at Hawfields and 
Cross Roads, He went heart and hand in the work of the gospel 
with McGready ; and often made excursions with him. Agreeing 
in principles and designs, these men were different in their tempera- 
ment and their manner of dispensing the gospel. From his tender 
and affectionate manner Hodge was styled " the Son of Consolation." 

While the work of revival was going on in the counties of Orange 
and Guilford, and in parts of the neighboring ones, the congrega- 
tions in Granville, where Pattillo lived and preached, and along the 
Hico, were visited by Nash Legrand and Carey Allen, young men 
from Virginia, the fruits of the revival which had prevailed under 
the preaching of John B. Smith, particularly at Hampden Sydney 
College, of which they were members. Great effects followed their 
preaching. When their mission was ended, multitudes followed 
them into Virginia to attend the sacramental seasons in Prince Ed- 
ward and Charlotte. A friendly intercourse was then commenced 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 375 

between the congregations of the two Synods, which has continued 
more or less to the present day. 

This revival, which commenced about the year 1791, continued 
for some years in the upper part of what is now Orange Presbytery. 
Many professors of religion renounced their hopes and became, as 
they thought, truly converted to God ; others were greatly enlivened 
and strengthened in their faith, and rejoiced in renewed graces ; 
and many hopeful converts were added to the church. This was 
the Second Revival of Religion in North Carolina, after the Revo- 
lutionary war, of any extent, of which any account or tradition has 
been preserved ; the first having been in Iredell. 

Mr. Currie relates the interesting fact, that in the year 1801, in 
the month of March, at Barbacue church in Cumberland county, 
five young men, Messrs. Brown, Murphy, McMillan, McNair, Shaw^, 
Matthews, together with himself, were licensed to preach the gospel 
by 3range Presb^iery. All had received part of their education at 
Caldwell's school, in Guilford; and some, the whole. Part of them 
had grown up there, and been more or less under the influence of 
McGready. Of these, Matthews and Brown have received the de- 
gree of D.D. from respectable colleges. 

This revival was attended with no unusual appearances or exer- 
cises. The opposition to the close and practical preaching and re- 
newed discipline never broke out into violence but in one case. At 
Stony Creek there were some families of wealth and influence, that 
had become loose in their religious habits and morals during this 
disturbance of the war and the presence of the armies ; these opposed 
Mr. McGready's course and preaching, and proceeded from one step 
of opposition to another, till their dislike exceeded all bounds. 
Some of these, during one of their nights of revelry, made a bonfire 
of the pulpit near the church, and left in the clerk's seat a letter 
written with blood, warning him that unless he desisted from his 
way of preaching, their vengeance would not be satisfied with the 
destruction of the pulpit ; and his person would not be inviolate. 
McGready, as might have been expected, not in the least intimi- 
dated by the burning of the pulpit, or the letter, continued to preach 
as usual; and the opposition, confined to a few, died away. In a 
few years the dissipation of these families became the ruin of their 
character and property ; and after the lapse of a short period not a 
descendant of theirs could be found in the congregation. 

Throughout the country, the pious, and the sedate who were not 
pious, favored the labors of the ministers that were engaged in this 
work of grace, whose effects have been a blessing to the church and 



376 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

community to this day. Some of the ministers that were brought 
in to the church, during those years the revival continued, yet live, 
crowned with years and usefulness, soon to follow to the judgment 
of God fhe generations that were actors in these scenes. 

In the year 1796 Mr. McGready, who had been ordained in 1793, 
removed to Kentucky ; in the year 1799 the Presbytery of Orange 
dismissed Rev. Wm. McGee, and Barton Stone, a licentiate, to 
Pennsylvania Presbytery, and in 1800 the Rev. Messrs. Wm. Hodge, 
Samuel McAdo and John Rankin, to remove to the West ; and the 
part these men acted in the succeeding events in the West forms an 
interesting page in the history of the valley of the Mississippi. 

The following is an extract from McGready's own statement, and 
shows the state of things in Kentucky. 

Logan county, Kentucky, Oct. 28th, 1801. 

"^In the month of May, 1797, which was the spring after I came 
to this country, the Lord graciously visited Gasper River congrega- 
tion (an infant church under my charge). The doctrines of Re- 
generation, Faith, and Repentance, which I uniformly preached, 
seemed to call the attention of the people to a serious inquiry. 
During the winter the question was often proposed to me, Is reli- 
gion a sensible thing ? If I were converted ivould I feel it and 
know it ? In May, as I said before, the work began. A woman 
who had been a professor in full communion in the church found 
her old hope false and delusive. She was struck with deep convic- 
tion, and in a few days was filled with joy and peace in believing. 
She immediately visited .her friends and relations from house to 
house, warned them of their danger in a most solemn and faithful 
manner, and pleaded with them to repent and seek religion. This as 
a mean was accompanied with the divine blessing to the awaken- 
ing of many. About this time the ears of all in that congregation 
seemed to be open to receive the word preached, almost every ser- 
mon was accompanied with the power of God to the awakening of 
sinners." 

" In the summer of 1798, at the administration of the sacrament 
of the suppei* in July, on Monday the Lord graciously poured out 
his spirit, a very general awakening took place. Perhaps but few 
families in the congregation could be found who less or more were 

not struck with an awful sense of their lost estate." 

« 

A blessing appeared to follow the labors of this man and the 
other preacKers of the gospel in the new settlements, from time to 
time in different places, till the year 1800, when an excitement 
commenced, which, for influence, duration, and extent, has been 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 377 

unequalled in the southern and western States ; and as pervading 
and resistless, and as fertile in novelties as that which spread over 
the middle and eastern States between the years 1740 and 1750, in 
which Edwards, Tennent, Davenport, Blair, Wheelock, Davies, and 
others, took a prominent part. 

The first laborers in this work were McGready, Hodge and McGee. 
At first it was but a powerful excitement, soon it was accompanied 
with bodily exercises of a strange and unaccountable nature, which 
for a time bewildered the judgments of the most clear-sighted 
ministers, and are with difficulty accounted for at this day. Previous 
to the June sacrament, in his Red River congregation, McGready 
was greatly depressed on account of the state of religion in his own 
charge and in the congregation around him. In conversation with 
an elder he told him his distress, and his mournfid anticipations. 
His elder began to tell him his own exercises, which were full of 
hope and expectation, and among other things told him of a dream 
he had lately had, about seeing him and Hodge and McGee catch- 
ing abundance of fish on the side of a dry ragged mountain, out of 
a little clear stream that brake from the summit. The effect of 
the elder's conversation on McGready was cheering, awaking 
anticipations of success, like the dream heard by Gideon in the 
enemy's camp. These brethren just mentioned assisted at the June 
meeting, in 1800, and before the close a most wonderful excitement 
commenced. Of this McGready says, " But the year 1800 exceeds 
all that eyes ever beheld on earth. In June the sacrament was 
administered at Red River. On Monday multitudes were struck 
under awful conviction. The cries of the distressed filled the whole 
house." From this place it spread that summer w^herever meetings 
for continued preaching were held, in Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio ; 
and ultimately over the whole South and West. 

Soon after the commencement of this excitement, persons began to 
be struck down during religious exercises, lying like persons in a 
swoon for a length of time ; and then rise with songs of praise for 
the deliverance they had experienced of a spiritual nature. This 
falling was at first preceded by great anxiety of mind on the subject 
of salvation, and succeeded by joyful exercises. The subjects, una- 
ble to move or speak, were entirely sensible, and were often deeply 
exercised, and could tell many things that passed around them in 
that apparAitly lifeless state. After a tiin^^^i^^||S||L had not 
expressed or felt any peculiar anxifety wei^Rr^^^^^ET at the 
meetiifgs, and rose rejoicing. The account %\'nicr^nese persons 
gave of their mental exercises and their religious experience, was 



378 SKETCHES OF MOUTH CAROLINA. 

such as to satisfy the most rigid inquiries. And this exercise be- 
came connected in the minds of people generally, with conversion ; 
by what invisible link no one pretended to declare, or what was the 
peculiar influence upon the mind. The pious and thoughtful, at 
first, were amazed, and afraid to oppose what appeared to be con- 
nected indissolubly with the work of God ; and finally, for a time, 
gave in to the opinion that it was a necessary part of the revival, 
and, being according to the will of God, must not be opposed. 

People came in crowds to the meetings that were held, to satisfy 
the demand for preaching, on horseback, in wagons, and on foot, 
and remained on the ground for days ; and continued engaged day 
and night, in religious services, with little intermission, listening to 
sermons and exhortations, and uniting in prayer and praise. 

The report of this extensive and most unusual excitement soon 
reached North Carolina ; and the old friends and hearers of Mc- 
Gready and Hodge were moved with great anxiety to witness the 
revival of God's work as they had experienced in days past them- 
selves, or as they now heard it was manifested in the West. 

In August, 1801, a communion season was held at Cross Roads, 
in Orange county. The stated minister, Wm. Paisley, was assisted 
by Rev. Messrs. Dr. Caldwell and Leonard Prather, and two young 
licentiates, Hugh Shaw and Ebenezer B. Currie. Nothing of 
especial interest appeared in the congregation during the days pre- 
ceding the Sabbath, or during the administration of the ordinance. 
Great solemnity prevailed, mingled with evident anxiety as well 
as prayer, among Christians, that God would bless the congrega- 
tion and revive his work. On Monday, the 28th, the public ser- 
vices were conducted by Messrs. Prather and Shaw, without any 
expression or appearance of emotion among the people. The pas- 
tor arose to dismiss the people, intending first to say a few words 
expressive of his sorrow that apparently no advance had been made 
in brino;ino; sinners to God. Overwhelmed with his sensations of 
distress that God had imparted no blessings to his people, he stood 
silent a few moments and then sat down. A solemn stillness per- 
vaded the congregation. In a few moments he rose again ; before 
he uttered a word, a young man from Tennessee, who had been in- 
terested in the revival there, and had been telling the people of 
Cross Rqail^luring the meeting, much about the state of things in 
the Wjj^^^l^Ji^i^hands and cried out, " Stand still and see 
^ tbes iimS^^^^^^^^^ I'l ^ few moments the silence was broken 
"by sobs^^iMl^fflf cries, rising commingled from all parts of the 
house. AH thoughts of dismissing the congregation at once van- 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 379 

ished. The remainder of the day was spent in the exercises of 
prayer, exhortation, singing, personal conversation, and midnight 
came before the congregation could be persuaded to go to their 
respective homes. The excitement continued for a length of 
time, and many were hopefully converted to God. No irregulari- 
ties appeared in this commencement of the great excitement in 
North Carolina ; the sobs and groans and cries for mercy were 
unusual, but seemed justified by the deep feeling of individuals on 
account of the great interests concerned. 

In October following, the usual fall communion was held in 
Hawfields, the other part of Mr. Paisley's charge. The expression 
of feeling was great from the first ; the people from Cross Roads 
were there in their fervency of excitement and hope ; and multi- 
tudes whom the report of what had been done at the August 
meeting drew together, were full of expectation, some wondering, 
and some seeking their salvation. People from a distance came 
in their wagons, and remained on the ground all night. The 
meeting was continued for five days without intermission ; the 
various religious services of prayer, singing, sermons, exhortations 
and personal conversations succeeding each other, with short inter- 
vals for refreshment during the day, and a few hours for sleep du- 
ring the night. Impressions of a religious nature were very general 
and very deep, and in a great multitude of cases abiding. This 

WAS THE FIRST CAMP-MEETING IN NoRTH CAROLINA. They SOOn 

became common all over the Soulh and West. Log-cabins were 
built at the accustomed or designed place of meeting in sufficient 
numbers to accommodate a large assembly ; and from an occasion- 
al meeting, they became regular appointments, which are not yet 
entirely discontinued. Once or twice a year the congregations as- 
semble at their usual place of worship, and continue on the ground 
some three or four days, or more if desired. This custom has its 
conveniences in accommodating those who live at a distance from 
regular preaching, and also its inconvenience ; and is diff"erently 
estimated in different neighborhoods, and is passing away from 
some, but is retained in Cross Roads and Hawfields in its original 
spirit. 

The excitement spread rapidly over the congregations in the 
upper part of Orange Presbytery, which then included all the 
State east of the Yadkin river, and in the early part of the yea r 
1802, the Presbytery of Concord, embracing the section of the 
State west of the Yadkin, felt its influence ; and the eastern part 



380 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of the State, now embraced by Fayettcville Presbytery, also began 
to be visited. 

The bodily exercises were intermingled in the meetings in Caro- 
lina as they were in the West, but in neither place had they, at 
this period, assumed the remarkable extravagance to which they 
afterwards arose in some parts of the country. Among the 
thoughtful these exercises caused great anxiety ; " were they the 
work of God ? were they the necessary accompaniments of the 
work ? or were they accidental things ? or were they delusions ?" 
were questions that led to many discussions. The opinion that 
finally prevailed most generally was, that they were inseparable 
accompaniments of the true work of God. This opinion pre- 
vailed for some years, and slowly gave way to the more correct 
conclusion, that in all cases they were accidental circum- 
stances and not necessary, and in many cases were entirely de- 
lusive. 

The ministers west of the Yadkin were much exercised on the 
subject of the revival in the West, and in Orange Presbytery, and 
also about the accompanying exercises. Until 1802, however, 
no appearance of revival was seen in their congregations. Some 
years previous, as has been noticed in the proper place, there had 
been some precious works of grace in Iredell and Cg-barrus coun- 
ties, but the congregations of the Presbytery were not generally 
visited ; and now there was a feeling of anxiety manifested every- 
where. 

Rev. David Caldwell, of Guilford, appointed a meeting to be 
held at Bell's meeting-house, near Bell's Mills, on Deep River, in 
Randolph county, on the last week of January, 1802, and invited 
the brethren west of the Yadkin to attend, and bring some of 
their people with them, and witness and share in the work then 
in progress. Four of the ministers, and about one hundred of 
their people, attended. The pastor of the extensive congregation 
of Thyatira, in Rowan county, Samuel E. McCorkle, a man of 
sound and extensive theological attainments, of scientific and 
literary acquirements above most of his cotemporaries, anxious 
about the revival, but strongly prejudiced against considering the 
exercises as a part of the work of the spirit, and through his pre- 
judices against them very much inclined to doubt the genuineness 
of the whole work, yet desirous of a revival amongst his people, 
went and took some of his people to witness the effects of that 
meeting. Lewis F. Wilson, pastor of Concord and Fourth Creek 
in Iredell, less prejudiced against the work than Mr. McCorkle, 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 381 

but not prepared to vindicate altogether the exercises, though he 
greatly desired a revival in his charge, a man of ardent tempera- 
ment, great self-possession, sound mind, and much acquaintance 
with the world, went accompanied by some of his charge. Jo- 
seph D, Kilpatrick, of Third Creek, of warm heart, and ardent 
spirit, anxious for a revival in his charge, and not anxious about 
the attending circumstances of swoons or exercises, might his 
people be revived, went and took some of his people with him. 
The venerable James Hall, of Bethany, who had served his coun- 
try and the church in the Revolution, and had been blessed with 
a revival soon after its close, tremblingly alive to the interests of 
religion and the welfare of his people, believing in the work as of 
God, and not much troubled about the accompanying exercises, 
went with a larger company of his people than either of the 
others. 

The preachers reached the ground on Friday evening, and 
took some part in the services. The people came up on Saturday 
morning, with their wagons. The meeting proved to be one of 
great excitement, and the people that came from a distance shared 
largely in it. Dr. Hall's people began to be exercised on Friday 
night before they reached the place of meeting, while they were 
encamped about five miles off. During the meeting, all the com- 
panies, one after another, were more or less affected. The breth- 
ren returned to their charges satisfied that the excitement was a 
revival of true religion, and these bodily exercises were connected 
in a manner inexplicable, and not to be questioned. 

Dr. McCorkle held out a long time, at first rather confirmed 
in his opinions that the work could not be of God, there was so 
much disorder. Conversations with the new converts, and those 
under conviction while struck down, had gone far towards chang- 
ing his mind, when a messenger came to him, as he was walking 
round in deep thought,°bearing a request from his son, who had 
been struck down, to come and pray for him. He went and 
kneeled by him and began to pray, and as he prayed his whole 
heart and soul became so interested in the work that was going 
on, and so filled with desires for the conversion of all the world, 
that when he arose his doubts had given place to deep conviction 
that the work of God was going on notwithstanding the bodily 
exercises. 



382 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

"An Interesting Narrative of the Revival of Religion in that part of 
North Carolina which lies southwest of the Yadkin River. In 
a Letter from the Rev. James Hall. 

'^ Iredell county, North Carolina, May 4, 1802. 

" Sir : — Please to accept of my grateful acknowledgments for 
the copy of your proposals for publishing extracts from the Evan- 
gelical JMagazine, &c. ; you may expect my interest in promoting 
your laudable design. As the revival of religion has, through the 
goodness and mercy of God, reached this part of his vineyard, a 
few sketches as to its rise and progress in that part of our State 
which lies between Yadkin and Catawba Rivers, may not be un- 
acceptable to you ; and if they should contribute to the promotion 
of your design, will tend to our mutual satisfaction. 

" Last August the revival began in Orange and Guilford 
counties, which lie northeast of the Yadkin. To those the work 
was chiefly confined until the last week of January, at which time 
a general meeting was appointed in Randolph county, to the south- 
ward of Guilford, where some of my fellow -presbyters and myself 
were invited to attend. Accordingly, Dr. McCorkle, Messrs. Lewis 
F. Wilson, Joseph D. Kilpatrick, and myself, set out with about 
100 of our people, having to go from fifty to eighty miles. We 
who were ministers went on horseback, and the rest in wagons. 
My people, about forty in number, were alone, except two families 
who travelled with them. The clergy passed on before the 
wagons, and arrived at the place of meeting on Friday. That 
night my people lodged within five miles of the place, where a re- 
markable circumstance happened among them. At evening prayer 
in the house where they lodged, a man about thirty years old be- 
came deeply affected, who I believe was pious from an early pe- 
riod of youth. Impressions immediately ran through the assembly 
like fire along a train of powder ; so that in a very short time 
almost all the young people, who composed about three-fourths of 
the company, became religiously exercised. The fathers were 
filled with astonishment, as none present had ever beheld such a 
scene. Nothing but cries could be heard for a considerable time. 
When those had in a measure subsided, the fathers spent the 
greater part of the night in prayer and exhortations. 

Public worship was begun next day before they arrived at the 
place of meeting. They took their seats, and attended with com- 
posure until the assembly separated, which was in the evening 
twilight. They then retired to their tent. I did not follow for 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 383 

about half an hour, allowing them some time of relaxation, as I 
expected our meeting would be a tender scene. When I w^ent to 
them they exhibited to me a spectacle truly affecting. Not less 
than twenty of the young people were lying in sore distress, and 
uttering ardent cries for mercy. A multitude had collected round 
them before I came. My brethren and I could do nothing but 
pray for them, as they were in no situation for conversation. 

" Some of them, who, I believe, were pious before, obtained 
comfort that night ; the others remained in distress. Dr. McCorkle 
had previously mentioned to me his desire that his young people 
and mine should spend the evening together. After some time 
spent with us in prayer, he returned to his young people, and found 
the greater part of them religiously exercised. Next morning, 
which was the Sabbath, Mr. Kilpatrick came to me in much dis- 
tress, and told me he feared God had forsaken his little flock, as 
not one of them was affected. About that time his young people, 
and some of Dr. McCorkle's, retired to the woods, and spent some 
time in social prayer. When the hour of public worship approach- 
ed, and they were about to return, some of them were struck 
down ; and in a short time the greater part of them were so af- 
fected that others were obliged to supply them with fire and camp- 
furniture ; and they lay there until nine o'clock the next day, be- 
fore they could return to camp. In fine, before our return home 
more than nine-tenths of our young people were deeply impressed 
with a sense of the great importance of salvation. 

" Only two families of Mr. Wilson's people went with him, as 
they lay most remote from the place of meeting ; but of those who 
went, as great a proportion were affected as of others. I would 
not have entered into such a . minute detail of so many local cir- 
cumstances, which, singly viewed, might not appear very interesting 
to the public, only for this consideration : In all our charges, those 
who followed us to that place were of those families who had been 
principally engaged in promoting and holding religious societies, 
and were engaged in fervent prayer for a time of refreshing from 
the presence of the Lord ; some of them for more than eighteen 
months before that time. And should this little narrative be thought 
worthy of the public eye, my design in it is to encourage God's 
children to be fervent at the throne of grace, not only in secret, 
but social prayer. From what I have known of the fervency and 
persevering importunity of those families upon whom that remark- 
able effusion of divine grace fell, I think I never saw a geometrical 
proposition demonstrated with more clear evidence, than I have 



384 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

seen an answer given to tlie prayers of those pious parents who 
sent or conducted their children on that happy tour. As the greater 
part of our young people received comfort before they returned 
home, it is easier to conceive of than describe the joy of the parents 
and children at their meeting. On my return I preached at four 
different places before I came home ; consequently my people were 
at home a Sabbath before my arrival. Societies were holden in 
three different parts of my charge, in all of wliich the work broke 
out like fire, and was making rapid progress before I had an op- 
portunity of attending even at one society. 

" Our meeting in Randolph was on the first week of January. 
Since that time religion has made rapid progress among my people ; 
and so happy are we in unanimity of sentiments respecting that 
glorious work, there is not one among us who will suffer himself 
to be accounted an opposer, and very few seem to view it with 
disgust. But in many of our neighboring societies it is far other- 
wise. Many of our people are opposed to the work ; but of those 
some of the most obstinate have already submitted to it as a display 
of the mighty power of God. 

" There are two denominations scattered among us, who bear 
the Christian name, who are almost to one individual opposed to 
the work. But this need not be thought strange, as it has been a 
uniform case with them to oppose themselves to what other de- 
nominations call the effects of the effusion of the Holy Spirit on 
the church of Christ. 

" As to the progress of the work in the counties of Orange, 
Guilford and Randolph, you will probably have an account from 
the members of the Presbytery of Orange, whose bounds include 
those counties. 

" From a view of the advantages apparently arising from gen- 
eral meetings, the memljers of the Presbytery of Concord, of 
which I am a member, appointed one on the last week of January, 
near the centre of this county. The number of wagons which 
came to the ground, besides riding carriages, was about 108. The 
number of persons who attended on Sabbath, about four thousand. 
Divine service began on Friday at 2 o'ck)ck. At that juncture a 
rain began to fall, which continued until near night. A consider- 
able number were exercised that evening. Next morning a con- 
siderable heavy sleet began to fall about 9 o'clock, then snow, 
which terminated in a heavy rain. This continued until four in 
the afternoon ; and the day was without exception the most in- 
clement of any during the whole winter. Notwithstanding this, 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 385 

the people collected at ten, in two assemblies, and all ages and 
sexes stood there exposed until sunsetting. Exercises went on 
i^apidly, and large numbers were deeply affected. The work 
went on gradually increasing, until Tuesday morning, except a 
few hours before day on Monday morning, when the camp was 
chiefly silent. At 9 on Tuesday morning the people were assem- 
bled in the centre of the square, and after some time spent in 
prayer and exhortation, were dismissed. Many who went away 
unaffected were struck with convictions on their return, and others 
after they went home. No attempt was made to ascertain the 
number of those who were affected with religious exercises, but 
there must have been during the meeting, several hundreds. 
There were present eight Presbyterian, one Baptist, and two 
Methodist ministers. 

" Two weeks after the above meeting we held another, near 
Morganton, 60 miles to the westward. The country there is thinly 
inhabited, and the professors of religion few in number ; yet a con- 
siderable number were deeply affected, and circumstances were as 
promising as could be expected from the state of the country. 

" On the second week of March we held another general meet- 
ing, ten miles to the southward of the first, at the Cross Roads, 
near the lower end of this county. The number of wagons, be- 
sides riding carriages, was 262. Divine service began on Friday 
afternoon, and we continued together until Tuesday at noon. 
Religious impressions began to appear in an early period of the 
business, aad had a remarkable growth until the close of the meet- 
ing. Many hundreds were constrained to cry aloud for mercy, of 
whom many went home rejoicing, as well as others who came to 
the place under deep distress. The number of those who were 
present on Sabbath was estimated from 8000 to 10,000. They 
were divided into four worshipping assemblies. Those were all 
numerous. Of ministers present as far as recollection serves, 
there were fourteen Presbyterians, three Methodists, two Baptists, 
one Episcopalian, one Dutch Calvinist, and two German Luther- 
ans. It was pleasing to those who were friends of vital piety to 
see such a gradual and increasing work going on, day after day, 
until Monday, on which day and that night, I suppose that the 
number of exercised persons was equal to all who were affected on 
the preceding days. Many left the place with comfortable sensa- 
tions of mind, both of those who had been formerly and latterly 
convicted ; and many others went away under deep and heavy con- 
victions. 

25 



386 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

" Two weeks after this meeting we held another in Mecklenburg 
county, near the southern boundary of this State. The number 
present was about a third less than that last mentioned. 

" Twelve Presbyterian ministers, one Baptist and one Methodist, 
attended. Worship began, as usual, on Friday, and continued 
until near noon on Tuesday. Never did I see a se.t of men labor 
with more assiduity than the ministers labored from Friday noon 
until Sabbath night at 9 o'clock, during which time, among the 
vast multitude which attended, not more than ten persons were 
visibly affected with religious exercises. When night came on, 
the people had assembled at five different places in the encamp- 
ment, at which the ministers attended. Near the above hour, reli- 
gious exercises began in all the assemblies ; and, from what 
could be ascertained, there were not more than fifteen, perhaps 
not more than five minutes of time, Avhen the work began in those 
several places. Exercises, prayers and exhortations continued 
during the whole night. That dispensation, in the eye of the im- 
partial inquirer, is sufficient to obviate the objection against the 
work, " That it is the work of man — from the power of oratory," 
&c., as I am certain there were, before that time, many instances 
of more powerful oratory than we are capable of exhibiting at that 
late period, in such an exhausted state. Nor could such effects 
be produced by communications from one assembly to another, 
either by intelligence or noise ; for no two of the several assem- 
blies knew how each other was affected until a considerable later 
period of the night. At break of day public instructions ceased 
until nine in the morning. At that time a sermon was preached 
at the pubhc stand in the centre of the encampment. Few, if 
any, were exercised until after sermon, when six ministers conti- 
nued worship by prayer in rotation. This exhibited a scene to 
which I never saw anything similar. I am well assured that many 
more than a hundred sunk down in less than half an hour ; and 
what was remarkable in such a scene, there was scarcely a cry to 
be heard. This I perfectly recollect, that the speakers were dis- 
tinctly heard during the concert of prayer. But fervent supplica- 
tions and cries for mercy soon began. Shortly afterwards, one of 
the ministers rose to read, and make a few observations on the 
vision of the d^-y hones (Ezck., 37 chap.), but such were the cries, 
and the astonished state of the audience, that I suppose he could 
not call the attention of twenty persons : he read a few verses and 
sat down. Those in distress were generally taken to their respec- 
tive tents, where many followed. Some of the ministers continued 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 387 

at the public stand, others went to the tents, where crowds attended. 
The work went on all that day, and a great part of the following 
night ; so that, I believe, could the aggregate have been ascer- 
tained, although the work began at so late a period, as great a 
proportion was affected as had been at any former meeting. 

" At our first meeting in this county, we had prepared to admin- 
ister the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; but'so numerous were 
the persons in distress, and so loud were the cries, that we declined 
the administration of the ordinance. At the two latter, we removed 
the communion table to a considerable distance from the places of 
preaching, where we administered the ordinance without embar- 
rassment. At the first, we had about six hundred, and at the se- 
cond, near five hundred communicants. 

" At all our meetings, a considerable number professed to ob- 
tain the comforts of religion, and of those, I have not heard of 
one whose conduct has dishonored their profession. Praying so- 
cieties are formed in all our congregations, both supplied and 
vacant. In those the work seems to be promoted as much, and 
often more, than in our congregational assemblies. The face of 
the public, in point of morals, is evidently changed for the better, 
even in those places where the good work has not reached. It 
is to me no inconsiderable proof that the work is carried on 
by the same divine, omnipresent Spirit, when I behold such a 
sameness of exercises in the different subjects. 

" It is granted, that those exercises, or affections, which are 
merely bodily, are very different, which no doubt arises from the 
different temperament or habit of body. The same difference is 
obvious in different constitutions or habits of body, as to swoon- 
ing, outcries, &c., when the matter of grief or terror is the same, 
and the distress equally pungent. But those exercises which are 
mental, appear generally to run in the same channel. This can 
neither be from sympathy nor imitation ; for I have observed 
the same in the State of Tennessee more than eighteen months ago, 
as well as in various places in this State, where the subjects had 
never seen any other person in a similar situation. The first cry 
is usually for mercy, although I have attended upon sundry per- 
sons, who, when first struck, have been so overwhelmed with a 
sense of guilt, that they have told me, they were afraid to ask for 
mercy. But this state is usually of short continuance. And 
among the hundreds to whose exercises I have attended, have 
been pleasingly surprised to find so few cases of despondency, and 
not one instance of what may be called despair. This has been 



388 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the more remarkable, when such skiices of conviction have been 
opened upon the consciences of sinners, as to extort such bitter 
outcries, and produce such terrible effects upon the body. After 
fervent cries for mercy, there are usually complaints of unbelief, 
obstinacy and hardness of heart, together with importunate pleading 
that those may be renewed. Then there will appear glimmering 
hopes of salvation through a Redeemer, who seems to appear afar 
off. Here are pleadings indeed ! Sometimes one person of the 
adorable Trinity, and sometimes another is addressed, according 
to his respective province in the economy of man's salvation. 
This is more especially the case with those who have been pre- 
viously well instructed in the doctrines of the gospel. In the sup- 
plications of those who are ignorant, there is not such a variety ; 
but even their addresses, especially those of children, are really 
astonishing. When hopes of pardon appear, the importunity, if 
possible, becomes more incessant. Never did an humble and 
dutiful child, pleading for a favor from a compassionate father, 
offer more humble, fervent and affectionate petitions, than are here 
used for acceptance with God through a mediator. O for faith, 
for more faith, is the usual cry. When the patient receives comfort, 
he generally lies silent ; wrapt in deep contemplation. Then some 
rise in raptures of joy and praise ; others in silence, with a placid 
serenity spread over the countenance. In both it is almost incredi- 
ble what change it makes on the countenance, which in many will 
be visible, not only for days, but weeks. 

" In attending on some of those cases, I have often thought, 
that were I to set down and commit to writing the manner in 
which I believe, from the scriptures of truth, the spirit of God 
deals with a sinner, in bringing him from a state of nature to a 
state of grace — from the time he is first convicted of the evil of 
sin until he has a saving discovery of the mercy of God through 
the mediation of Christ, I know not how I could succeed better 
than by recording the exercises of some on whom I have waited ; 
although as to others, who are the subjects of severe exercises, it 
is evident to those tolerably well read in the anatomy of the 
human heart, that though they rise comfortable, they may be still in 
the bond of iniquity. This is not saying, but the most scrutinizing 
Christian may be mistaken as to the experiences or exercises of 
another ; but we must form our opinion according to our best evi- 
dence drawn from the word of God. And if among the subjects 
of the present work some should persevere, and others draw back, 
this is no more than can be expected ; as the production will be 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 389 

according to the nature of the soil on which the seed of the word 
is sown in the human heart. When comfort is not obtained in 
those exercises, the subjects are generally left under deep convic- 
tions of sin, and are usually exercised again, some five or six times 
before they obtain comfort. Of those who have received comfort 
the first time they have been exercised, I have not known any 
whose religious hopes have not been afterwards shaken, and have 
fallen under exercises again. Frequently such will rise under 
clouds, which will not be removed until they have undergone 
another, perhaps frequent exercises, before their comforts be 
restored. Those exercises do not appear to be confined to those 
who never had experienced the power of religion before. I believe 
many are the subjects of them who have long been acquainted 
with vital piety. This answers many valuable purposes, as it 
quickens their graces, brightens their evidences, attaches them 
more warmly to the revival, and makes them more assistant to the 
ministers of the gospel. 

" Nor is this happy revival confined to those who are under 
visible bodily exercises. I believe that many more are effected in 
what may be called God's usual way. With many such I have 
conversed, who appear to be under deep and rational conviction, 
and who think they have no valid impressions, because they are 
not the subjects of those violent exercises. Some of this class, 
with whom I have conversed, wlio^ I have every reason to believe, 
have availed themselves of the benefits of Christ's mediation, dare 
not appropriate the comforts of religion, because they have not 
those ecstatic joys which they perceive in others. It is a matter 
of gratitude to every pious mind to see how a propitious Provi- 
dence has smiled on our general meetings. These have instru- 
mentally spread the work two hundred miles, in a greater or less 
degree, from east to west, and near one hundred from north to 
south ; though in those bounds a very small minority have felt its 
happy effects. But the work is evidently spreading, and we hope 
will diffuse itself until the whole be leavened. We are extremely 
happy in the coalescence of our Methodist and Baptist brethren 
with us in this great and good work. Party doctrines are laid 
aside, and nothing heard from the pulpit but the practical and ex- 
perimental doctrines of the gospel. To-morrow I expect to set 
out to a general meeting, appointed near the boundary of Guilford 
and Rowan counties, on middle ground between the Presbyteries 
of Orange and Concord. Another commences on Friday, the 21st 
instant, on middle ground between the first Presbytery of South 



390 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Carolina and Concord. Our members are to divide between those 
meetings. 

" May 13th. This day I returned home from the meeting near 
the Guilford and Rowan boundary. Five Baptist, four Methodist, 
and four Presbyterian ministers attended. The place of meeting 
was at a house of worship, supplied with a stated pastor of the 
Baptist church. The happy fruits of our meeting at Randolph 
now appear there. So great is the work there, arising from that 
meeting, that the pastor of that church baptized twenty-eight per- 
sons on the first Sabbath of this month. Appearances at our 
general meeting were much as above described .at other places. 
Many were awakened, and a considerable number professed to 
obtain the comforts of religion, A letter I received to-day, so- 
liciting my attendance at another general meeting, in Rutherford 
county, eighty miles to the westward, to commence on the first 
Friday of next month, at which I expect to attend. The letter 
gives pleasing accounts of the happy effects of our little meeting 
near Morgantown. The contemplated meeting is to be about 
thirty miles to the southwest, where it appears that the happy in- 
fluence of the other meeting has reached them. 

"What shall we render to the gracious King of Zion for his 
goodness and for his wonderful works to the unworthy children of 
men ! What I have written are mere introductory sketches to 
what might be said on what I have seen during the last tlu-ee 
months. Volumes might be written on the subject. Many of the 
scenes to which I have been witness baffle description. At a com- 
munion in my own church on the first Sabbath of this month w^e 
had a solemnity from Friday noon until Tuesday morning, during 
which time there was scarcely any recess of exercises day or night, 
and a far greater proportion of the assembly were religiously af- 
fected than I had ever seen at our public meetings. May God 
carry on his work until righteousness cover the earth as the waters 
cover the seas, and the nations of the world become the kingdoms 
of our Lord and of his Christ ! 

"I am. Sir, your affectionate friend. &c., 

" James Hall." 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 391 

Important Letters communicated hy the Rev. Samuel M'Cor- 
KLE, North Carolina, through the hands of Mr. John Langdon, 
of Salisbury, Roiuan county. 



Dated Westfield, December 16, 1801. 
" Sir, — I had before received some imperfect accounts of the re- 
vival in Guilford, Caswell, and Orange counties ; but have now 
received a more perfect account by the Rev. Mr. Flinn. A remark- 
able libertine, says he, has been lately struck dovi^n, and the stroke 
has silenced and confounded his companions. The preacher and 
people frequently remain all night on the ground in prayer, exhor- 
tation or praise. At a late meeting three young men were struck 
down in the act of cutting whips to correct some poor negroes 
who were crying for mercy. Our brethren from Orange have in- 
vited us to meet them at a sacrament in Randolph on the first day 
of the New Year. I design to attend. May the work come this 
way." 



letter II. 

'■'■January 8, 1802. 

" Sir, — I now sit down to give you a narrative of the transac- 
tions at Randolph, commencing on Friday, January 1, 1802, and 
continuing until the ensuing Tuesday. 

" On Thursday, the last day of the last year, I set out from 
home for Randolph, and lodged in Lexington with some preachers, 
and a number of people, mostly from Iredell, going on to the same 
place. The evening was spent in prayer and exhortation, without 
any visible effect. Next day the preachers arrived at the Ran- 
dolph meeting-house ; but the Iredell company lodged five miles 
behind. 

" On Saturday, in the interval of two sermons, the congregation 
(near 2,000) were informed that the Iredell company were reli- 
giously exercised, in a sudden and surprising matter, at evening 
prayer, in the family or house where they lodged. This struck 
with seriousness every reflecting mind, because the effect did not 
appear to arise from oratory or sympathy, the causes commonly 
assigned for this work. The second sermon was delivered and the 
benediction pronounced as usual ; but the people paused, as if 
they wished not to part, nor go either to their homes or encamp- 
ments. 



392 SKETCHES of north CAROLINA. 

" Just then rose a speaker to give a short parting exhortation : 
but wonderful to tell, as if hy an electric shock, a large number in 
every direction, men, w^omen, children, white and black, fell and 
cried for mercy ; while others appeared, in every quarter, either 
praying for the fallen, or exhorting bystanders to repent and be- 
lieve. This, to me perfectly new and sudden sight, I viewed with 
horror ; and, in spite of all my previous reasoning on Revivals, 
with some degree of disgust. Is it possible, said I, that this scene 
of seeming confusion can come from the Spirit of God ? or can he 
who called Ught from darkness, and order from confusion, educe 
light and order from such a dark mental, or moral chaos as this I 
Lord God, thou knowest. The first particular object that arrested 
my attention was a poor black man with his hands raised over the 
heads of the crowd, and shouting, ' Glory, glory to God on high.* 
I hasted towards him from the preaching-tent ; but was stopt to 
see another black man prostrate on the gi'ound, and his aged mo- 
ther on her knees at his feet in all the agony of prayer for her son. 
Near him was a black woman, grasping her mistress' hand, and 
crying, ' O mistress, you prayed for me when I wanted a heart to 
pray for myself. Now thank God, he has given me a heart to pray 
for you and everybody else.' I then passed to a little wdiite girl, 
about seven years old. She was reclining wdth her eyes closed 
on the arms of a female friend. But oh ! what a serene angelic 
smile was in her face ! If ever heaven was enjoyed in any little 
creature's heart it was enjoyed in her's. Were I to form some 
notion of an angel, it would aid my conception to think of her. I 
took her by the hand, and asked how she felt, she raised her head, 
opened her eyes, closed them, and gently sunk into her foraier 
state. I met her next day with two or three of her little compa- 
nions, I asked her how she felt yesterday. ' how happy,' said 
the dear little creature, with an ineffable smile, ' and I feel so 
happy now, I wish everybody was as happy as I am.' I asked 
her several questions relative to her views of sin, a Saviour, hap- 
piness and heaven ; and she answered with propriety, and as I 
thought rather from proper present feelings than from past doctri- 
nal or educational information : for when I was afterwards called 
to examine her in order to communion, I found her defective in 
this kind of knowledge, and dissuaded her from communicating at 
that time, though she much desired it. Tliis I have since regret- 
ted, for I do believe, on cool reflection, that she possessed that ex- 
perimental knowledge of salvation, which is infinitely preferable to 
all the doctrinal or systematic knowledge in the world without it. 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 393 

" But to return. I pressed through the congregation in a cir- 
cuitous direction, to the preaching tent, viewing one in the agony of 
prayer ; another motionless, speechless, and apparently breathless ; 
another rising in triumph, in prayer and exhortation. Among these 
was a woman five hours motionless, and a little boy under twelve 
years of age who arose, prayed and exhorted in a wonderful man- 
ner. After themselves I observed that their next concern was their 
nearest relations. After this, I went to the nearest encampment, 
where seven or eight were prostrate on the earth ; while viewing 
this scene, a stout young man fell on his knees behind me, and 
cried for mercy. I turned about. He asked me to pray for him. 
I attempted it. He arose with some assistance, called for a brother, 
and gave him and the bystanders a most pressing dissuasive 
against delaying repentance ; ' this,' said he, ' has been my own case 
until I saw the Iredell company passing by. They left me restless 
and wretched. I was forced to follow. I have just come ; and 
have bee» running from camp to camp, until I was able to go, no 
farther. I now cry for mercy, and feel determined to cry until I 
find it.' 

" After 1 had gone round the encampments I went into the 
wood to see a large number, some of them my own charge, at a 
distance from the camps. Two or three had retired for prayer 
and conversation, and were struck ; others were led to them by 
their cries, some of whom were also struck, until there was a 
large company of spectators, and persons exercised. I had now 
viewed the whole as a spectator. My mind seemed to be made 
up of a strange mass of sensations, and I retired for a moment 
to make some serious reflections. Still did the notion of disorder 
perplex me. What is disorder, said I, and wherein consists its 
criminality ? There is an external disorder, which disturbs formal 
organized worship. This disorder may arise from the fainting of 
the speaker, or of any of the hearers, or from any sudden alarm, 
as Hervey has stated in the story of a press-gang in a seaport in 
England. Has organized worship been disturbed in Randolph ? 
No. Would the disturbance be criminal if it were involuntary ? 
Certainly not. If so, Peter might have been disturbed with the 
cry of his hearers, and Paul with the fall of Eutychus from the 
third loft. Yet there was no crime. Where then is that disorder 
which involves guilt ? It is in a multitude of improper, incohe- 
rent, and wandering thoughts. Do such thoughts pass through 
the minds of the exercised, or of serious spectators ? No. An 
awful sense of the majesty of God — a painful sense of sin — an 



394 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

earnest desire to be delivered from it, &c., &c., surely there is no 
disorder here. I see criminal disorder through roving eyes, and 
vacant features. I see it in the conversation of an intoxicated 
youth. I see it in the giddy crowd running from camp to camp, 
without a fixed object, and I see it in the conduct of those pro- 
fane persons who have overturned the sacramental tables, and 
trampled them under their unhallowed feet. This is disorder 
voluntary, and awfully criminal. But who will dare to say this 
of the poor sinners constrained to cry, even in the great assembly, 
' Men and brethren, w^hat must we do to be saved ?' But who con- 
strains ? I answer, the impression is God's, the expression ours, 
and will ever be as the suddenness of conviction, the weakness 
or energy of the mind, and the sense or aggravation of its guilt. 
I had often viewed the unity and variety of God's works, and 
thought I began to see these traits here. What a sameness in the 
exercises of all, and yet what a wonderful variety in time, place, 
means, and degrees of exercises ! What a sameness- a4|d variety 
in the persons, faces, and voices of men ; and also in the natural 
powers and dispositions of the mind. Surely the God of nature 
is the God of grace. Natural affections begin with self, and then 
spread around ; so do the affections that show themselves in this 
work. First, what shall I do to be saved ? Then, my child, 
my brother, or sister, ' Repent and believe.' Surely this must 
be the work of God, and marvellous in our eyes ! After all, it 
seems an astonishing way to reform mankind. It is not the way 
I would take to do it. But what is conducted as I would con- 
duct it ? — peace or war, plenty or famine, pestilence or health, 
life or death ? No. I can but say, O God, as the heavens are 
higher than the earth, so are thy thoughts above our thoughts, 
and thy ways above our ways. 

" On the last evening of the solemnities were my difficulties 
completely removed by the ardent exercise of a man near three 
score, a man far, very far from enthusiasm, and its constituents, 
melancholy and irrational devotion ; a man whose mind was en- 
lightened, long enliglitened with the rays of science and religion. 
This man felt no pain nor anxiety for himself. The ardency of 
his desire, or prayer, was first excited for a particular person who 
was impressed ; but his ardency seemed to rise as high as the 
heavens, and to extend wide as the earth. It seemed as if God 
then vouchsafed to answer his prayer, to rend the heavens, and 
come down ; to shine into his heart, to give the light of the know- 
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, and the joy un- 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 395 

speakable, even raptures, that arise from such a view. Never 
was prayer offered with more ardor for the extending of this 
work, nor with more firm and unbounded confidence that it would 
be extended. He seemed to see the glory of all the divine attri- 
butes at one view, and to see them all displayed in the progress 
of this glorious work. He has never since suspected that it was 
delusion, but has mostly since enjoyed 

' The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy. 
Which earth can't give, and which earth can't destroy.' 

And he has ever since expressed an ardent zeal to promote this 
work." 



"LETTER III. 

" Februanj 4, 1802. 
" The subject of this letter is the first meeting in Iredell, called 
the Third Creek meeting ; on this I have nothing different from Mr. 
Hall's statement, except these remarks : ' That persons who had 
obtained a religious education, and were moral in their general 
deportment, continued longer under convictive impressions than 
others who were ignorant and immoral ; but the former had greatly 
the advantage in the regularity of their exercises, and in the fa- 
cility and perspicuity with which they communicated them. And 
that, though very young and bashful persons might pray and ex- 
hort well under the first exercises or impressions, yet they seldom 
or never succeed so well in future. And that, though very young 
people have gone as far as education or genius could go, yet I 
have never seen them go beyond. It is indeed saying a great 
deal to assert that they have gone so far.' " 



" LETTER IV, 

"March 17, 1802. 

" The subject of this is the meeting at Cross-roads, in Iredell. 
The extract not noticed by Mr. Hall, is that a system of rules 
was agreed to by the ministers for the more uniform conducting 
of the work. These rules are : — 

" 1 . That persons exercised and crying for mercy, should neither 
be disturbed with prayer nor exhortation, unless when they re- 



396 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

quested it, or were verging to despair, or becoming careless with- 
out gaining consolation. 

" 2. That when consolation came, thanks should be given ; yet 
not in such terms as if conversion and salvation were entirely cer- 
tain ; but only in a judgment of charity hopefully begun, and to 
be manifested by a future humble active course of obedience to 
all the divine commandments. These rules were suggested by 
viewing the conduct of some, who seemed to push impressed per- 
sons too hastily along, and hazard the mistaking of convictions for 
conversion. Here too much caution cannot be taken ; for, on the 
one hand, is danger of kindling sparks, and on the other, of estab- 
lishing a righteousness of our own, or of getting confidence or 
consolation that comes not from the comforter. To these two 
rules might have been added two more. 1. Never to make it an 
object in prayer, preaching or exhortation, to excite bodily affec- 
tions ; for, in this sense, bodily exercise profiteth little. It is not 
essential to true religion, and is even now but an incidental cir- 
cumstance which the wisdom of God is directing to purposes 
most important indeed. 2. That young people, and especially 
children, who had spoken feelingly and sensibly under their first 
impressions, should not be pushed forward by their friends to 
speak again, after these impressions were abated or gone. 

" Opposers here had time to combine, and show themselves. 
They were rather sentimentally than really united. One class 
were infidels, curiosity brought them, they laughed at the disputes 
of Christians, and cared little about them. Another class were 
the Associates — they were in angry earnest, and wished for dispu- 
tation. Another class were of the baser sort, low, vulgar drunk- 
ards, buffoons and debauchees. These several classes were 
seldom opposed otherwise than by prayer." 



LETTER V. 

'' April 2d, 1802. 

" The subject of this is tlie meeting at New Providence. 

" Extract, not in Mr, Hall's Narrative. At this meeting has 
been demolished an infidel objection that only weak nerves and 
minds are affected in this work. Here I saw prostrate, a young 
man, remarkable for the robustness of his body, and energy of his 
mind, and for opposition resolute and determined. 'O God,' were 
his very words, ' and must T shrink now ? Must I lie here an 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 397 

humble spectacle to the gazing crowd V After a pause, ' God, 
have mercy :' — but after another — ' Did I ever ask it before ? No ! 
but often for curses.' Another young man, the largest in the 
Assembly, was stricken down. But the most remarkable of all 
was a gentleman of a strong constitution, and a mind enlightened, 
and enlarged by science, and knowledge of the world — and in the 
school of infidelity, a master. This gentleman I saw soon after 
he was struck. He passed a night in horrors indescribable. I 
heard him declare the next morning that he believed this to be a 
supernatural work ; and urged in proof the first of the above 
young men, ' whom I know,' said he, ' to have both strength of 
nerves, and energy of mind ; and yet he fell.' 

" His own Narrative first obtained from another, April 27, 
1802, and afterwards directly from himself. May 22, is in my 
letter-book, and is exactly as follows." 



" LETTER VI. 

" I was," said he. " nearly a confirmed deist ; and though reli- 
giously educated, despised religion until about four weeks ago. 

" About that time a largeme eting was held at Providence. I had 
the curiosity to attend. For nearly four days I continued on the 
ground, though often determined to leave it without any unusual 
impressions, except what were occasioned by the cries of the dis- 
tressed. Although at some times I prayed to be religiously im- 
pressed, I never was more careless and hardened in my life until 

Monday evening, when sitting in Mr. 's tent, reflecting on the 

strength of my body, and happy state of mind, notwithstanding my 
fatigue and want of rest, I was at once struck with an unusual 
sensation in my heart, which in a little time pervaded my chest in 
general. I felt no pain, but apprehended immediate death. I en- 
deavored to remove it by walking, but in vain. Having returned 
to the tent, the sensation pervaded my whole body, and convul- 
sions and involuntary gnashing of teeth ensued. Instantaneously 
these ceased, and I became as one dead, unable to move. While 
this continued, which was said to be about two hours, I expe- 
rienced a dreadful gloom, and confused horrors of mind, but had 
no particular view of my sins. This resemblance of death was 
succeeded by other convulsions, and again I felt quiet ; and until 
morning experienced more dreadful hoiTors, which increased as 



398 SKETCHES of north CAROLINA. 

my bodily strength returned. When the exercise of my bodily 
organs was tolerably recovered, my horrors ceased without my being 
able to assign the particular cause of their removal. My first re- 
flections were how I could possibly make a public profession of 
religion, and exhort as others were doing. A plan was immedi- 
ately suggested how I might avoid it, which was to attribute all I 
had felt to fits ; and say I had been subject to them before. This, 
however, I immediately detected as a suggestion of the devil, and 
discarded, resolving to love God and profess the religion of Jesus 
Christ, let the consequence be what it would. I then began to in- 
quire what could be the cause of these new and sudden resolutions ; 
for, thought I, it is scarcely possible, that I, who have been one of 
the most abandoned sinners, could experience a change of heart, 
without being more dreadfully humbled for my sins. I then indeed 
saw that they were great and of a most aggravated kind, being 
committed against so much light and goodness. And although I 
could not feel humbled for them as I wished, and as I know I 
ought, yet the glory, wisdom, justice, grace, and condescension of 
God, as displayed in the device of salvation through a mediator, 
broke in upon my mind. My soul was filled with admiration and 
love, at the fulness and freeness of his grace in Christ. My heart 
acquiesced in this glorious way of salvation, and my soul was 
drawn out in love to the holy and blessed Jesus. Never before 
did I know anything of true joy, and blessed be God, for this week 
past, he has permitted me to enjoy his smiles almost without in- 
ten-uption. But I am not satisfied, and at some times am led to 
fear the whole is a delusion but glory to God if it should be so ; 
it is an incomparable sweet one. O ! how sweet to contemplate 
the glorious character of Almighty God, and his infinite love to 
sinners through his dear Son. I am indeed often jealous of my 
own heart, and this often leads me to examine, with great care, my 
exercises, and compare them with the word of God ; and the 
gracious experience mentioned in other good books. And if I am 
not greatly deceived, I can freely renounce all that is most dear to 
me in the world, for Christ and his religion. I pray the Lord 
may enable me to persevere. I desire to thank him I have been 
enabled to day, at court, to silence near a dozen of my old deisti- 
cal companions, by stating to them my own experience. My case 
evaded all their objections, and they appeared to be struck with 
solemnity and alarm." 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 399 

" Connected with the foregoing, which I had from the gentleman's 
own hand, is the following, which I had from the hand of my friend 
and neighbor, the Rev. John Carrigan, and also from the lips of 
three other clergymen, who were eye and ear-witnesses. To 
render the account more authentic, I have made no alterations in 
it, and indeed I saw no need to make any. 

"Samuel E. M'Corkle." 



LETTER Vn. 

'< North Carolina, Cabarrus County, May 29, 180;J. 

" Rev. Sir, — I here transmit you a short, but I think important, 
statement of facts, to w^hich I had the pleasure of being an eye and 
ear-witness. 

" On a late sacramental occasion, in a neighboring society, where 
I had the happiness of attending, my attention was frequently ex- 
cited afresh by new and extraordinary instances of awakening. 
None, however, appeared so pointedly to arrest the public mind as 
that of a certain gentleman, who experienced his first impressions 
on Sabbath evening. His own declaration was, that he was sensi- 
bly struck in the forehead, as if by the end of a person's finger. 
He, supposing the stroke to be of the apoplectic kind, became 
alarmed with the view of instant death — he earnestly desired to 
have blood drawn, crying out, ' I cannot live.' His alarm of death 
gradually abating, he spent the night almost in silence ; but still 
disbelieved it to be the work of God's spirit. 

" On Monday morning I was awaked by his bitter and piercing 
cries at a distance. When I went to him, the crowd (many of 
whom were in tears) was listening to his lamentation, which was 
to the following purport : — ' God, what a night I have spent in 
struggling against thy spirit ; I have been an opposer and a despiser 
of this work ; I came here with no better design yesterday morning, 
leaving my wife and children without calling them together for 
prayer, or even a wholesome advice ; I would not let them come ; I 
thought I was strong ; I so despised the work and its friends as to 
begrudge it my presence ; I had philosophized upon it, and could 
account for it all to ray satisfaction, and that of my deistical friends 
with whom I had the greatest happiness for ten years past. But 
where did that philosophy come from, that struck me in the forehead 
yesterday ; God, what a creature have I been ; and yet in thy un- 



400 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

bounded goodness thou hast taken hold of me ; the unbounded 
goodness of God ; the unbounded goodness of God ; the un- 
bounded goodness of God ; when I came here yesterday morning I 
could not have prayed before four persons, or sung a piece of a 
hymn : no, the fact was I would not have done it ; but now I could 
wish the world to hear me ; my friends, it is the work of God, it 
is the work of God ; yes it is ; I have heard of Christians loving 
one another, and of one person feeling interested for the salvation 
of their fellow-sinners, but I never knew what it meant, or even be- 
lieved that there could be such a thing till now ;' pausing awhile he 
added : 'what a change has taken place in my mind since yesterday 
morning ; my wife will be glad to see it, and all the friends of 
Jesus will rejoice with us ; God, may these impressions continue ; 
I am afraid of high professions, but am constrained to acknowledge, 
from my present feelings, that if this world with all its glory was in 
my offer, I would not receive it as an inducement to exchange my 
present state for that in which I was yesterday ; I came here and I 
knew not what brought me, for I confess I had not the approbation 
of my own will ; I came not to hear sermon, and when I was here 
I tried to hear as little as I could ; but God has laid on me his hand 
in mercy, when I was not seeking him.' His importunate exercises 
in prayer and exhortation, should they be all noted, would fill many 
pages ; but I have noted his soliloquy in the above lines, as that 
through which we may take the most immediate view of the soul's 
exercises, when imder the convictive operations of God's spirit. 
The gentleman has the advantages of a liberal education, and has 
always, so far as I have been acquainted, supported a good moral 
character ; but till that period, by his own confession, had never sus- 
pected that there was any reality in religion, but scoffed at such pre- 
tensions. I suppose he is a little above forty years of age." 



" LETTER vin. 

" Mmj 28, 1802. 

" I have just returned from a general meeting at Waxhaws in South 
Carolina, which commenced on Friday 21st instant, and closed dn 
the ensuing Tuesday. 

" About twenty ministers of various denominations attended, one 
hundred and twenty wagons, twenty carts, and eight carriages, 
and by a rough computation about three thousand five hundred 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 401 

persons, of whom more than one hundred were exercised on the 
occasion, few of. w^hom received the sensible comfort of religion. 
I am happy that I attended, because I have returned with answers 
to two or three objections which were made here, against the least 
degree of divine agency in this work. These objections originated 
from facts that had taken place at two common sacramental occa- 
sions, which I had just before attended — one in the vicinity — the 
other at home. At the first of these the opposers were numerous, 
wretched, restless and daring. They cursed, and scoffed, and 
threatened, and fortified themselves with ardent spirits to prevent 
the stroke, or animate for opposition. And yet not one of them 
was struck down. At the other sacrament a number of females 
w^ere afflicted, but not one man. These circumstances could not 
escape observation, united with another, viz., that it is at the close 
of all our meetings, when the body is debilitated and the mind 
impressed with a long series of dreadful sights and sounds, that by 
far the greater number fall. 

" At Waxhaws I saw these objections vanish away. About twenty 
persons fell the first day, the far greater number throughout the 
whole occasion were men, and few opposers escaped ; not less than 
twelve of the most notorious fell. The second person that I saw 
struck was a man who had boasted that he would not fall. How- 
ever, struck he was, fled, fell, was found, and brought to a tent where 
I saw him, and heard him cry for mercy. Curiosity had compelled 
another to attend, and the fear of farlling had induced him to drink 
freely : so that it was doubtful when he was struck down, what was 
the true cause. Time determined. I saw him twelve hours after, 
and he was trying, in ardent language, to express his repentance, 
love, joy, gratitude, resolution, and hope. I saw another soon after 
he had fallen. His companion was gazing on. A respectable by- 
stander told me that they were racing horses into the encampment 
that morning, that they were swearing and talking profanely, that 
the fallen had boasted that nothing but his bottle should ever bring 
him down, and that he w^ould not for the value of the whole camp 
be degraded by falling for anything else. Another was struck 
down, and by one of the ministers (who told me) he was urged to 
pray. This he peremptorily refused. He was urged again, and 
tl^n declared that he would rather be damned than pray. Such a 
comment on the enmity and pride of the human heart I never heard 
before. After lying all night on the ground, he crept away the next 
morning, and I heard of him no more. 

" A remarkable occurrence took place on ray return, not far from 
26 



402 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the encampment. A young man was exercised in a thick wood, he 
was found, and then called for his relatives and neighbors, to whom 
he gave a very ardent exhortation. His exercises were joyful, as 
they respected himself; but became painful when his thoughts 
turned on his thoughtless or opposing relatives and neighbors. 
But the most singular circumstance was his own solemn declaration, 
that he had experienced this painful work in that very wood long 
before he had ever seen it in others ; and therefore he cried out with 
unusual animation, ' my friends, this work is the work of God, 
and not sympathy, as some of you suppose.' 



" LETTER IX. 

" Narrative of Proceedings at Jersey Settlement, Rowan County, 
North Carolina. 

« June, 4-8, 1802. 

*' A sermon was delivered on Friday to a large, thoughtless, disor- 
derly crowd, which became gradually composed and serious, until 
Monday, which was the most solemn day that my eyes ever beheld. 
Near three thousand persons attended, and of these near three 
hundred were exercised throughout the occasion, and perhaps not 
fewer than the half of them on Monday. 

" Nothing very unusual at such meetings appeared, until Sunday 
evening, when a stout negro-woman, who had been all day mock- 
ing the mourners, fell ; and fell in a state of horror and despair that 
baffles description. In this state, she continued with intervals, for 
three hours. I viewed her all the time, and it was impossible for 
my imagination to conceive of her being more tormented had she 
actually been in hell. She often roared out, ' hell ! hell ! hell ! 
Thy pangs have seized me ! torment ! torment ! What tor- 
ments me ! Hell can't be worse. Let me go there at once. It is 
my dreadful doom.' She said she saw hell-flames below, herself 
hung over by a thread, and a sharp, bright sword drawn to cut it 
through. Her exertions, at this moment, nor angel nor devil could 
describe. Two stout negro-men were no match for her struggles. 
I thought of the man among the tombs with his legion. Such an 
exercise I never beheld, and I have seen not less than a thousand. 
No one that saw it, ever beheld anything that would stand in com- 
parison. At intervals she cried, ' O for mercy ! but what have I 
to do with mercy ? No mercy for poor miserable me. Hope, how- 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 403 

ever, began to prevail, and at last she shouted, ' Glory, glory,' as 
loud, and as long as she had roared out, ' Hell-torment ' before. 
" Astonishing,' said she, ' I have mocked the mourners, boasted that 
I could stand, been in hell, and, praise God, praise Him, praise 
Him, He has brought me out. Never, never, let me forget to love, 
and praise, and se^ve my God, my Redeemer.' 

" Very different, but less noticeable was another exercise on Mon- 
day. After a sermon and two exhortations, arose, with trembling 
and wild consternation, a man who adjured the preachers before 
God, to say on their conscience, whether they did believe the ne- 
cessity of these convictions which they had been urging. The 
whole assembly was struck with solemn astonishment. The preach- 
ers, after a pause, said with one voice, ' We do, we do believe it.' 
He then turned to the assembly, and begged of those who had felt 
conviction, to pray for him, and others who had not. He sat down. 
An awful silence ensued, and then a prayer was performed for them. 
When this scene ended, he rose, and called on all who had not felt 
conviction, to join with him in prayer for themselves. After a 
short, pathetic prayer, he retired. I afterwards conversed with him. 
He said that he had never suspected our sincerity, but wished to 
have the assembly impressed with our public declaration ; that his 
first feeling was a bodily sensation rising from his bowels toward 
his breast, and that with this sensation arose his resolution to speak, 
and an impulse irresistible to execute it. And certain am I that, 
had he studied for a year, he could have devised no plan that would 
have produced such a solemn effect on the assembly. In the eve- 
ning he was severely exercised, and obtained as much consolation 
as, in his own words, ' such a sinner could expect.' ' This,' said 
he, ' is the chief ground of my consolation, that 1 feel resolutions 
made with a temper which I never experienced before. I think I 
feel that I am acting from principles, and that I feel the principles 
from which I act.' This man possessed a large portion of natural 
understanding, and a liberal education, but regrets that he has 
been too long wandering through the wilds of infidelity and intem- 
perance. He has firmly resolved to abandon his old companions, 
and choose new ones, and be another man. May God enable him 
so to do. 

" What wonders are doing around us ! What think you of a wed- 
ding, a gay giddy bride, and a severe exercise on her bridal day 1 
All this has happened in the vicinity of this meeting, and but a few 
days before it, I conversed with the bride. She said she had 
thought seriously of this work before j but was not, when struck, 



404 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

thinking seriously about anything. She was struck soon after the 
ceremony was performed, and struck in such an awful manner, that 
for some time she knew not what was the matter. Her friends 
were prodigiously alarmed, and their mirth turned into sober sad- 
ness. She at last obtained a little consolation, and told me she was 
earnestly seeking for more. la the vicinity of this place is a man 
of mid-age, who was struck in his bed ; and a young woman, who 
experienced all this work in secret five or six years before ever she 
saw it in others. I know her, and believe that she abhors a lie. 

" Westfield, August 9, 1802. To Mr. Langdon in Salisbury, 
Rowan County, N. Carolina. 

" Your's, &c., 

" Samuel M'Corkle." 



A True Account of a Great Meeting held in the District of Spar- 
tanburgh. South Carolina. 

" Abbeville {S. C), July 1th, 1802. 

" My Friend : — I have just returned from Nazareth, where I have 
seen and heard things which no tongue can tell, no pen can paint, 
no language can describe, or of which no man can have a just con- 
ception, until he has seen, heard and felt. I am willing that you 
should have a perfect detail of all the circumstances attending this 
meeting ; and of all occurrences which there took place. But you 
must accept the acknowledgments of my inadequacy to draw a just 
representation ; yet, as far as I may be able, I will now give you 
an account of some things. 

" The meeting was appointed some months since by the Presby- 
tery, and commenced on Friday, the 2d inst. The grove wherein 
the camp was pitched was near the water of Tyger River ; and 
being in a vale which lay between two hills gently inclining to- 
wards each other, was very suitably adapted to the purpose. The 
first day was taken up in encampment until two o'clock, when di- 
vine service commenced with a sermon by the Rev. John B. Ken- 
nedy. He was succeeded by the Rev. William Williamson, in an 
address explanatory of the nature and consequences of such meet- 
ings. The assembly was then dismissed. After some short time, 
service commenced again with a sermon by the Rev. James Gille- 
land ; who was followed by the Rev. Robert W^son, in a very 
serious and solemn exhortation. Afterwards the evening was spent 
in singing and prayer alternately. About sundown the people 



REV. JAMES m'gREADY. 405 

were dismissed to their respective tents. By this time the counte- 
nances of all began to be shaded by the clouds of solemnity, and to 
assume a very serious aspect. At ten o'clock two young men were 
lying speechless, motionless, and sometimes to all appearance, ex- 
cept in the mere act of breathing, dead. Before day, five others 
were down ; these I did not see. The whole night was employed 
in reading and commenting upon the word of God ; and also in 
singing, praying and exhorting; scarcely had the light of the morn- 
ing sun dawned on the people, ere they were engaged in what 
may be called family worship. The adjacent tents collecting in 
groups, here and there, all round the whole line. The place of 
worship was early repaired to by a numerous throng. Divine ser- 
vice commenced at eight by one of the Methodist brethren, whom I 
do not recollect. He was followed by the Rev. Mr. Shackleford, 
of the Baptist profession. Singing, praying and exhorting by the 
Presbyterian clergymen continued until two o'clock, when an inter- 
mission of some minutes was granted, that the people might re- 
fresh themselves with water, &c. By this time, the audience be- 
came so numerous, that it was impossible for all to crowd near 
enough to hear one speaker ; although the ground rising above the 
stage theatrically, afforded aid to the voice. Hence, the assembly 
divided, and afterwards preaching was performed at two stages. 
An astonishing and solemn attention in the hearers, and an animat- 
ing and energetic zeal in the speakers, were now everywhere pre- 
vailing. Service commenced half after two by the Rev. John 
Simpson at one stage, and at the other, by the Rev. James M'El- 
henney, who were succeeded by the Rev. Francis Cummings. 
After these sermons, fervent praying, &c., were continued until, and 
through the night, in which time many were stricken, and numbers 
brought to the ground. 

" The next morning (Sabbath morning), a still higher, if possible, 
more engaged and interesting spirit pervaded the whole grove; 
singing and praying echoed from eveiy quarter until eight o'clock, 
when divine service commenced again at both stages, before two 
great and crowded assemblies. The action sei'mons were delivered 
by the Rev. Robert Wilson, at one stage, and the Rev. William 
Cummings Davis at the other. I did not hear 3Tr. Wilson. But 
Mr. Davis's was one of the most popular orthodox gospel sermons 
that I ever heard. No sketch, exhibited in words, would be ade- 
quate to portray the appearance of the audience under this dis- 
course. Imagine to yourself thousands under a sense of the greatest 
possible danger, anxious to be informed in all that related to their 



406 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

dearest interests, in the presence of a counsellor, who, laboring with 
all his efforts, should be endeavoring to point out the only way to 
security ; and you will have some faint conception of this spec- 
tacle. 

" Thence ensued the administration of the Lord's Supper. To the 
communion sat down about four hundred persons. It was a mat- 
ter of infinite satisfaction, to see on this occasion the members of 
the Methodist and Presbyterian churches united ; all owning and 
acknowledging the same God, the same Saviour, the same Sancti- 
fier, and the same Heaven. We are sorry to add that the Baptists 
refused to join ; whether their objections were reasonably justifiable, 
I shall not presume to say. 

" The evening exercises, although greatly interrupted by the in- 
temperance of the weather, progressed as usual, until about dark ; 
when'there commenced one of the most sublime, awfully interest- 
ing and glorious scenes which could possibly be exhibited on this 
side of eternity. The penetrating sighs, and excruciating struggles 
of those under exercise ; the grateful exultations of those brought 
to a sense of their guilty condition, and to a knowledge of the way 
to salvation ; mingled with the impressions which are naturally ex- 
cited by the charms of music and the solemnity of prayer on such 
occasions ; and to all this added the nature of the scenery, the dark- 
ness of night and the countenances of the spectators, speaking in 
terms more expressive than language, the sympathy, the hope and 
the fear of their hearts, were sufficient to bow the stubborn neck of 
infidelity, silence the tongue of profanity, and melt the heart of cold 
neglect, though hard as adamant. This scene continued through 
the night. Monday morning dawned big with the fate of its im- 
portance. The morning exercises were conducted as usual. About 
half past seven the assembly met the ministers at the stage, and ser- 
vice commenced by the Rev. Mr. Waddel. After which ensued 
singing, exhorting and a concert of prayer. At length the business 
closed with an address, energetic and appropriate, by the Rev. 
Francis Cummins. In the course of this day many were stricken, 
numbers of whom fell. 

" I cannot but say that the parting was one of the most moving 
and affecting scenes which presented itself throughout the whole. 
Families, who had never seen each other until they met on the 
ground, would pour forth the tears of sympathy, like streams of 
waters ; many friendships were formed, and many attachments con- 
tracted, which, although the persons may never meet again, shall 
never be dissolved. Not one quarter of an hour before I mounted 



KEV. JAMES M GREADY. 407 

my horse to come away, I saw one of the most beautiful sights 
which ever mortal beheld. It would not only have afforded pleas- 
ure to the plainest observer, but the profoundest philosopher would 
have found it food for his imagination. The case to which I allude 
was the exercise of Miss Dean, one of the three sisters who fell 
near the close of the work. Her reflections presented mostly objects 
of pleasure to her view. But sometimes, for the space of a minute, 
she would lose them ; the consequence of which was painful dis- 
tress. By the very features of her face I could see when her afflic- 
tive sensations approached, as plain as ever I saw the sun's light 
obscured by the over-passing of clouds. In her happy moments 
she awakened in my recollection Milton's lively picture of Eve 
when in a state of innocence. 

" Another extraordinary case occurred at the very moment of 
departure. Two men disputing, one for, the ether against the 
work, referred their contest to a clergyman of respectability, who 
happened to be passing that way. He immediately took hold of 
the hand of the unbeliever, and thus addressed him : ' If you were 
in your heart's desire to wait on the means of grace, God would 
show you the truth. You may expect mercy to visit you ; but re- 
member, my hand for it, it will cost you something ; a stroke would 
not now come at a successless hour.' Scarcely had the words drop- 
ped from his lips, when the man was on the ground, pleading for 
an interest in the kingdom of heaven, and begging pardon of God 
for his dishonoring him and the cause of religion, through unbelief. 
I understood the man to be a pious man, and his hesitations of a 
religious and conscientious kind. The other men who had been in 
the crowd, where many were lying under the operations of the 
work, attempted to run off. One, leaving his hat in his haste, ran 
about twenty or thirty paces and fell on his face. His shrieks de- 
clared the terrors and anguish under which he labored. The other 
ran a different course about fifty yards, and fell. 

" The number of those who were stricken could not be ascer- 
tained, but I believe it to be much greater than any one would con- 
ceive. On Sabbath night, about twelve or one o'clock, I stood 
alone on a spot whence I could hear and see all over the camp ; 
and found that the work was not confined to one, two or three pla- 
ces, but overspread the whole field ; and in some large crowds the 
ground appeared almost covered. In the course of one single 
prayer, of duration about ten minutes, twelve persons fell to the 
ground : the majority of whom declared, in terms audible and expli- 
cit,. that they never prayed before. 



408 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

" There attended on this occasion thirteen Presbyterian preach- 
ers, viz, : Messrs. Simpson, Cummins, Davis, Cunningham, Wilson, 
Waddel, WilHamson, Brown, Kennedy, Gilleland, sen'r., M'Elhen- 
ney, Dixon and Gilleland, junior; and an unknown number of 
Methodists and Baptists. 

" The multitude on this occasion far exceeded anything which had 
come under my observation. There w^ere various conjectures of the 
numbers present ; some allowed three, some four, some five, some 
six, some seven, and some eight thousand. I had not been in the 
habit of seeing such multitudes together, and therefore do not look 
upon myself capable of reckoning anyw^ays accurately on the sub- 
ject. But I do candidly believe five thousand would not be a vague 
conjecture. The district of Spartanburgh, where the meeting was 
held, contains no less than twelve thousand souls. Men of informa- 
tion w^ho reside therein, said, to one who might be travelling, the 
country would appear almost depopulated, and hesitated not in the 
least to say two thirds of the inhabitants were present. Now sup- 
posing only one third to have attended, from that district itself, 
there would have been four thousand. Besides, there were multi- 
tudes from the districts of Union, York, Laurens and Greenville ; 
Numbers from Pendleton, Abbeville, Chester and New^bury, and 
some from Green, Jackson, Elbert and Franklin counties, of the 
State of Georgia. Of carriages, the number w'as about two hundred, 
including wagons and all other carriages. 

" In a thinking mind, an approach to the spot engendered awful 
and yet pleasing reflection. The ideas which necessarily struck the 
mind were, thousands in motion to a point, where to meet, tell, 
hear, see and feel the mighty power of God. Believe me, sir, no 
composition can exaggerate the spirit of one of these occasions, 
although facts may be misrepresented. For a lively miniature, I 
refer you to an extract of a letter, contained in a book lately pub- 
lished and entitled, ' Su7~p7isi7ig- Accounts ;' where this expression 
is used, ' The slain of the Lord w^ere scattered over the fields.' 

" I cannot omit mentioning an idea expressed by Mr. Williamson. 
After taking a view of the general prevalency of dissipation and 
slothful neglect in religious affairs, he concluded, saying, ' These 
works appear like the last efforts of the Deity to preserve his church, 
and promote the cause of religion on this earth.' To see the bril- 
liancy and sublimity of this idea, we need only recur to the state of 
society for a few years back ; especially in the southern States of 
United America, when and where, Satan with all his influence ap- 
peared to be let loose and was going about like a roaring lion 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 409 

seeking whom he might devour. This extraordinary work carries 
in itself, demonstratively, the truth of the Christian religion. Men 
who fall, and many there are who have paid no attention to the holy 
scriptures, yea, even infidels of the deepest dye, cry out ' their sinful 
state by nature,' ' their alienation from God,' ' and man's incapacity 
to satisfy the justice of the law under which he stands condemned,' 
* and of course the absolute necessity of a Redeemer.' When re- 
ceiving comfort from this last consideration, I heard none crying for 
Mahomed, Bramma, Grand Lama or Hamed ; none but Christ was 
their healing balm, in him alone was all reliance fixed, on him 
alone was all dependence placed. 

" It would be exceedingly difficult to draw an intelligible repre- 
sentation of the effects of this work upon the human body. Some 
are more easily and gently wrought than others ; some appear 
wholly wrapped in solitude ; while others cannot refrain from pour- 
ing out their whole souls in exhortations to those standing round ; 
different stages, from mild swoons to convulsive spasms, may be 
seen ; the nerves are not unfrequently severely cramped ; the sub- 
jects generally exhibit appearances as though their very hearts 
would burst out of their mouths : the lungs are violently agitated, 
and all accompanied with an exhalation ; they universally declare 
that they feel no bodily pain at the moment of exercise, although 
some complain of a sore breast and the effects of a cramping, after 
the work is over ; the pulse of all whom I observed beat quick and 
regular, the extremities of the body arc sometimes perceptibly cold. 
In short, no art or desire would imitate the exercise. No mimic 
w^ould be able to do justice to the exhibition. This demonstrates 
the error of the foolish supposition of its being feigned. I will 
conclude, my dear Sir, acknowledging that all I have here written 
is incompetent to give you any complete idea of the work. There- 
fore to you and all who wish to be informed, I say, come, hear, see, 
and feel. I am your's, respectfully, 

"Ebenezer H. Cummins." 



As the attention to religion spread wider, and became more 
general, the variety and degi-ee of the bodily exercises greatly in- 
creased in the Carolinas, and renewedly called the attention of the 
considerate and judicious. The extravagances of some parts 
of the West never found ihcir way east of the Alleghanies, 
sucli as running back and forth, barking like a dog, and uttering 



410 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

inhuman sounds, like nothing imaginable. Some individuals, that 
had been affected with these extravagances, visited their friends 
east of the great mountains, and, during the meetings they attend- 
ed, gave some specimens, apparently involuntary, of the manner 
of these peculiarities : happily the example was not contagious. 
Loss of strength, swoons, outcries, sobs, and groans, and violent 
spasmodic jerkings of the body, became in a degree common through 
the Carol inas. 

A venerable clergyman now living (1846) was affected by the 
jerks a few times, and the account he gives will probably help to 
a right understanding of those singular affections. He was licensed 
in the spring of 1801, and went soon after to preach statedly at 
Bethany, in Caswell county, or Rattlesnake, as it was often called 
— (the congregation is not now known by either name, having been 
divided into Gilead and Yancey ville) — and with it associated Grcers 
or Upper Hico. The interest on the subject of religion had been 
felt through Granville and Caswell. The bodily exercises were 
common, but had not gone to great excess or extravagance. He 
had attended a communion season at Bethany on a certain occasion 
w^ith much enjoyment, and, on his way home to his residence, 
tarried a night at the house of Mr. James Greer. As the hour of 
evening worship approached, he felt deeply impressed with a sense 
of the presence of Almighty God in his holiness and majesty. 
God's purity and grace appeared wonderful. This sense increased 
upon him during worship. After worship, the sense of the presence 
of a pure and holy God overawed him : it seemed to him he should 
sink under it. He felt astonished that God, such a God, should 
be so good to such an unworthy creature. He walked out to get 
by himself, and started to go across a little piece of corn to a small 
retired valley. Before he could reach the retirement he was seized 
in a most surprising manner. Suddenly he began leaping about, 
first forward, then sideways, and sometimes, standing still, would 
swing backward and forward " see-saw fashion." This motion of 
his body was both involuntary and irresistible at the commence- 
ment ; afterwards, there was scarcely a disposition to resist, and 
in itself the motion was neither painful nor unpleasant. The 
people in the house heard the noise, and came running to his relief, 
and carried him in their arms back to the dwelling. The fit lasted 
about an hour, during which time, if the attendants let go their hold, 
he would jerk about the room as he liad done in the field. Gra- 
dually it passed away and he retired to rest, humbled at the exhi- 
bition he had made. 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 411 

On the next day he felt more ashamed of the matter, as he had 
fully believed that, at the first outset at least, the jerks could be 
resisted. As he rode away, he felt mortified, and wished he had 
charged the people where he lodged to make no mention of the 
matter, believing that it would make against him, and that he could 
and would resist them for the future. But, on that very day, while 
visiting a neighbor, without any special excitement, talking about 
the meeting, he was suddenly seized again, and jerked across the 
room, and continued under the influence of the exercise for about 
fifteen minutes. He went home very much confounded. 

He once afterwards had a return of the exercise in the pulpit at 
Hawfields. Mr. Hodge, who had once been the preacher there, 
and had been so prominent in the revival in the West, was visiting 
the congregation. After the services of public worship were con- 
cluded, sitting with him in the pulpit, he began to inquire of his 
old friend about the revival in the West. Suddenly the exercises 
came on, but soon passed away. He did not then believe them, 
nor has he since considered them, as being of the nature of true 
religion, or as having any necessary connection with it ; but, judg- 
ing from his own experience, and what he saw in others, he con- 
cluded there was no capability of resisting them, as they came on, 
nor any disposition to do so, after they had begun. 

By degrees the bodily exercises lost their hold upon the public 
mind as being a part of religious experience ; persons who had no 
sense of religion were seized by them both at places of public 
worship and while about their ordinary business, and sometimes 
were left as unconcerned as ever, and at other times appeared to 
be greatly irritated by them ; and the preachers generally not only 
discountenanced them, but openly opposed ; and long before the 
attention to religion ceased, these exercises were confined to a few 
neighborhoods in North Carolina, and became connected with ir- 
regularities that required the censure of the church, which in a 
few cases was inflicted, as appears from the records of the Synod 
of the Carolinas for the years 1809 and 1810. 

As a specimen of the extent to which the exercises were carried 
in the. West about the time the Presbyterian ministers set them- 
selves in opposition, the following narrative or extract from a diary 
is presented, taken from the Virginia Religious Magazine for 
1807, published in Lexington, Virginia. The narrative was drawn 
up by Rev. John Lyle, then living in Kentucky. 

" Saturday, Nov. 6th, 1805.— I went to the Beach meeting- 
house, where a meeting was appointed by the Presbyterians and 



412 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Methodists, called in the country, the Union Meeting. There I 

heard a sermon delivered by a Mr. N , who has lately been 

licensed by the Cumberland Presbytery, and is said to be a man 
of learning. There was nothing remarkable in his sermon except 
his pressing exhortations to the people to pray out, shout, dance, 
&c., in time of divine worship. He told them to shout, to pray 
aloud, or do whatever duty they felt an impression to do. Said he, 
' I believe it will not offend God, and I am sure it will not offend 
me.' The people, though prior to this seemingly careless and in- 
attentive, were roused to action, — shouted, prayed aloud, exhorted, 
and jerked till near the setting of the sun. 

" I am well aware that it is impossible to describe an assembly 
thus agitated, so as to give those who have never seen the like, a 
just and adequate idea of it ; I would just observe that though I 
had been accustomed to seeing strong and indescribable bodily 
agitations in the upper counties of Kentucky, and had frequently 
seen the jerks, yet all this observation and experience did not pre- 
pare my mind to behold without trepidation and horror the awful 
scenes now exhibited before me. The jerks were by far the most 
violent and shocking I had ever seen. The heads of the jerking 
patients flew with wonderous quickness from side to side in va- 
rious directions, and their necks doubled like a flail in the hands of 
a thresher. Their faces were distorted and black, as if they were 
strangling, and their eyes seemed to flash horror and distraction. 
Numbers of them roared out in sounds the most terrific. The 
people camped in wagons and tents round the stand. I returned 
to the Rev. William McGee's." 

The like scenes were expected the next day. Mr. Stone, the 
leader of the New Lights, was there, but was not permitted to 
preach. Such scenes as these brought the bodily exercise into 
entire disrepute with the sober and sedate, and the Presbyterian 
Church generally ; and the work of revival went on without these 
where they were vigorously opposed. 

Such scenes never prevailed in North Carolina ; the nearest 
approach was in one neighborhood in Lincoln County, to which 
sufficient reference is made in the minutes of the Synod. These 
things arc recorded, both as matters of historical fact, and as warn- 
ing against yielding to irregularities, however specious their ap- 
pearance. 

The revival in North Carolina, separated from all these objec- 
tionable things, was extensive and most salutary in its effects in 
reforming the life and elevating religious and moral principle, and 
promoting the domestic and civil welfare. 



REV. JAMES M GREADY. 413 

We have no written account of the progress of the revival in 
the lower part of the State, drawn up by the hand of one of the 
actors. In default of this account, which would have been highly 
prized, we are guide^l by the accounts from other sources, and 
particularly by the statements of Dr. Hall, the author of the 
pamphlet, which makes a part of this chapter. He visited the 
bounds of Fayettevillc Presbytery, and made report to Synod in the 
year 1810. From these sources it appears that the revival spread 
rapidly and most extensively through the Scotch settlements ; that 
the bodily exercises prevailed to some degree for a time, but never 
reached the objectionable height they did in some places in the 
West, and were probably more circumscribed than in the upper 
country. The ministers that were living in that section of the 
State at that time, were Samuel Stanford, who is reported in the 
records of Synod for 1799, as preaching on Black River, and 
Brown, Marsh, Angus, M'Diarmid, at Barbacue Bluff and McCoy's ; 
John Gillespie, at Centre, Laurel Hill and Raft Swamp ; Robert 
Tate, South Washington and Rockfish. Murdoch McMillan and 
Malcolm M'Nair were licensed in 1801, and reported as ordained 
in 1803. Nearly all of these were young men ; and Mr. Hall 
testifies that they were active, laborious and successful in their 
Master's work. The existing churehes were greatly enlarged, and 
new ones formed, so that previous to 1812, the ministers and 
churches of the Scotch settlements, and those between them and 
the Ocean, were sufficiently numerous to form a Presbytery. 
Some eminently useful ministers in this work had but compara- 
tively a short race, as M'Nair ; others are living to this day, as the 
venerable Robert Tate. 

As the fruits of the revival, many ministers of the gospel were 
raised up ; two men in the middle age left their occupations and 
prepared for the ministry, and became eminently useful. One of 
them, Mr. Peacock, died in the year 1830; the other, Mr. Mcln- 
tyf e, who commenced his preparations for the ministry in his forty- 
fifth year, still lives, and is able occasionally to preach, having 
continued his most active ministerial life till within a few years. 
This is noticed by Mr. Hall in an honorable manner. 

Throughout Carolina, wherever the revival prevailed, the com- 
munity received unspeakable blessings, and the church, in suc- 
ceeding ages, can but remember with thankfulness, the mercy of 
God, and bear in her heart and preserve in her records the names 
of men whom God honored as the instruments of so many blessings 
to their fellow-men. 



414 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER AND THE CHURCHES OF STEELE CREEK, 
GOSHEN, AND UNITY. 

Humphrey Hunter was one of those men, who, having suffered 
and fought bravely in the war of American Independence, gave 
the strength of their manhood and the ripened experience of their 
age, to proclaiming the gospel of everlasting deliverance from sin 
and misery by the Lord Jesus Christ. Drawn by the excitement 
of the occasion, he mingled with the crowd that in May, 1775, 
listened to the Declaration of Independence in Charlotte, and 
carefully preserved a copy of that memorable document, the pio- 
neer of Declarations of Independence, for the benefit of his 
children and of posterity. He joined in the shout of approval 
when Col. Polk read the paper from the court-house steps, and 
was among the foremost to redeem the pledge so solemnly given, 
" of life, and fortune, and most sacred honor," by taking arms in 
the defence of liberty, and suffering captivity and wounds in the 
sacred cause. All his matured years were given to preaching 
the gospel of our Lord. His first services were rendered in 
South Carolina. From thence he removed to Lincoln county, in 
North Carolina, and took charge of the congregations of Goshen 
and Unity, and some time after extended his services to Steele 
Creek, one of the oldest congregations in the State, bordering on 
Sugar Creek (which embraced Charlotte) on the southwest. 
Goshen became a preaching-place anterior to Unity, and Steele 
Creek long before either. 

From the fact that in 1776 a call was brought into the Synod 
of New York and Philadelphia from Steele ©reek and Providence, 
it is probable that the church on Steele Creek was organized by 
Messrs. Elihu Spencer and Alexander McWhorter, who were 
sent by the Synod in 1764 to the back part of North Carolina, to 
aid the people in organizing churches, settling their boundaries, 
and taking proper steps to obtain regular pastoral services. In 
1765, the Synod appointed Rev. Messrs. Kerr, Duffield, Ramsay, 
David Caldwell, Latta, and McWhorlcr, to spend each half a 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 415 

year in the vacant congregations of Carolina. In the next year 
the call for the services of Mr. Kerr is sent to Synod. 

Long previous to that time there was occasional preaching on 
Steele Creek, by missionaries and travelling preachers, as McAden, 
while those who were willing to ride the distance of from six to 
sixteen miles, could attend on the preaching at Sugar Creek. 
In the early settlements, fifteen and sixteen miles were often 
passed over to attend the sanctuary on a Sabbath morning ; and 
as many more in the evening, to return to the secluded forest 
homes of the scattered inhabitants that ultimately formed Steele 
Creek and Providence churches, whose nearest regular preaching 
was at Sugar Creek. The settlement of all these congregations 
commenced about the same time, Sugar Creek and Rocky River 
taking the precedence somewhat in point of time, and very par- 
ticularly in obtaining the services of a settled pastor. 

In 1767, the Rev. Robert Henry, the first settled pastor on Cub 
Creek, Charlotte county, Virginia, having left his charge in Vir- 
ginia, accepted a call from Steele- Creek and Providence ; in the 
mysterious Providence of God, he closed his life that year. 

The Rev. Dr. McRee, so long pastor of Centre, spent some 
twenty years of his life in Steele Creek, taking his residence there 
in 1778 and leaving it in 1797, A more particular account of him 
will be given under the head of Centre congregation. Between 
his service and the time of Mr. Henry, the congregation does not 
appear to have had a settled minister, unless Mr. Reese was occu- 
pied a few years with Steele Creek and Providence. He was 
preaching in Mecklenburg about the commencement of the Revo- 
lution, and used his pen for his country. 

You may find Steele Creek church on the road from Camden, 
South Carolina, through Lincoln to Tennessee, some ten miles 
southwest from Charlotte, and some five or six south of Tucka- 
sege ford. As you go up from Camden, you will pass the spacious 
church on the left hand ; but whichever way you may be passing 
you will not mistake the low wooden house, the second upon the 
same site, with the old grave-yard, a few steps to the east, filled 
with monuments, and the new yard on the west across the great 
road, with a few graves, the chosen resting-place of a large con- 
gregation. 

W^ould you see the records of Steele Creek ? She has no his- 
tory. None of her females conversant with events of thrilling 
interest, when Steele Creek was the track of armies in the Revolu- 
tionary struggle, has, like the old lady of Poplar Tent, committed 



416 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

to writing the circumstances peculiar to the congregation, whose 
recital shall warm the heart of every one who traces his line of de- 
scent from the actors in these stirring and often bloody scenes. 
Had some one called their attention, like the Pastor of Poplar 
Tent, to the difference between traditionary story growing more 
and more faint and uncertain with passing years, and the written 
record that may remain to all time, in all probability some of the 
ladies of the past generation would have prevented our saying 
Steele Creek has no history. 

But she has records. Not written with pen and ink, but graven 
in the enduring rock, records brief, concise, numerous, and cha- 
racteristic. With the ever to be commended practice of gathering 
the remains of the dead to the sepulchres of their fathers, in the 
enclosure near the place of worship, securely walled in, sacred as 
the place of graves, unexposed to the plough of the stranger or the 
cold-hearted descendant, this congregation has gone farther and 
excelled their neighbors, in erecting those monumental stones, that 
shall tell what people and families have once been active in the 
business of life on the surrounding plantations, have mingled in 
social intercourse, and in the worship of God, in that decaying 
house, have tasted of the sweets and bitterness of life, then given 
place to others, soon to vanish away before the infants of to- 
day. Wave after wave passes on, and those brief records and 
enduring stones tell where they brake on the shore of eternity. 

Were these that worshipped here more reverential of the dead ? 
or more affectionate in attachments unsevered by the grave ? or 
more abundant in resources to procure what gentle-hearted poverty 
might sigh for in vain, a monument, or tablet, or grave-stone ; 
a monument of the dead ? or was it simply that their habitations 
were many miles of " weary hauling^'' nearer the market and the 
workshop ? 

Will you walk among these tombs ? Perhaps pride and vaiiily 
shall be humbled, worldliness may get a death-blow ; and the 
heart go away chastened from the perusal of these monumental 
stones pointing faith to the skies, . and cheerful under the provi- 
dence of God that has not yet consigned us to the silent abodes. 
Let us enter by this gate, in the west wall, near the church, and 
advancing a few paces northeastwardly, read the brief and only 
record of one that shed his blood in the battle of Camden : — 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 417 

Sacred to the Memory of 

John McDowell, 

who departed this life July 30th, 1795. 

Aged 52 years. 

An unexceptionable character, 

in whose death 
his family, his neighborhood, "* 

the State, and Ihe Church, 
sustained a loss. 

In that unfortunate battle in which Gates was defeated and De 
Kalb slain, this man received three wounds, the pains of which 
never left him, and went with the honorable scars to his grave. 
Two facts about this man are of enduring interest, that he was a 
Christian, and a soldier of the Revolution, that poured out blood 
and carried wounds for his country. One is recorded here, — the 
record was too brief to make mention of the other. Would that 
some hand that can guide the iron-pen would fill out this record ; 
and go on through this yard, and throughout the whole community 
of Carolina, and tell to posterity the names, and where lies the 
dust of the men who suffered in the Revolution : how it would 
catch a stranger's eye ! how it would throb the heart of a descend- 
ant, travelling from the far South or West to visit the sepulchre of 
his ancestor ! 

" It is the fortune of war," said Captain McDowell, of the 
army of His Majesty George III., while plundering this man's 
house, in a foraging party, during the brief sojourn of Cornwallis 
in Charlotte in the year 1780. "Is it soldier-like to plunder a 
helpless family so, and leave us nothing ?" said the wife and 
mother. " But, madam, we must have something to eat, and 
these rebels won't bring it in." " And have you no women 
and children at home?" ''What is your name, madam?" 
*' McDowell is our name." " McDowell ! that is my name ; 
where are you from ?" " Our family came from Scotland, Sir." 
" Aye ! and very likely then ye are kin of mine ; I have some 
here in America." Calling in his men, saying they had got enough 
from that house, he added, " An' likely ye have some of your 
family amongst the rebels ; but it is the fortune of war. Good- 
bye ! it is the fortune of war," 

" Carried these scars from the battle-Jield to his grave .'" How 
that deed chiselled in this stone would move the heart of every pas- 
senger. And if the actions of the dead were briefly hinted at upon 
their tomb-stones, how coming generations would read in the en- 
closure at Sugar Creek, — Abraham Alexander, Elder in the 
27 



418 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Church, and President of the Convention, May 20th, 1775 ; and 
in Hopewell, near the Arma Libertatis of Bradley, Davidson fell 
at Coxoarts Ford, resisting the Invasion of 1781 ; and in Bethany, 
Hall, Captain of a Company, and Chaplain to the Regiment in 
actual service in the Revolution ; and as they read feel the unut- 
terable emotions of a soul stirred up to deeds of excellence by the 
memory of these worthies, the like of whom the world cannot soon 
see again. 

Men begin to trace their origin to the emigration from Ireland 
with conscious exultation ; and the actors, and the deeds, and the 
very places of Revolutionary events are invested with a constantly 
increasing interest. Where are they 1 is the inquiry of the patri- 
otic and the young ; and could this money-seeking age but antici- 
pate the eagerness with which the coming generations will search 
for the tombs and the battle-fields, and the scenes of patriotic ex- 
ploits on the line of march from Camden to Guilford, it would 
blush. 

But look around a little, see this peculiar fashion of these records 
of the dead, which mark the period immediately following the 
Revolution : — they are made with raised letters, and contrast with 
those less shapely older, and these smoother new ones, that are 
deeply chiselled. The very fashion of the monuments proclaims 
that we are in a changing world. You may count the generations, 
from the low and rudely sculptured head-stones of the old settlers, 
through the more erect and stately, and the embossed letters, to 
the polished marble of to-day. There is one class peculiar, and 
not unpleasing. On a single head-stone, in parallel columns, are 
the short record of man and wife ; joined in life, joined in death, 
joined in the recollection of the living, and in the hopes of eternity, 
they arc not separated in the grave or the monuments of the tomb. 
You may see one erected by a surviving partner, in which the 
column for the dead, filled up, stands waiting for the inscription that 
death shall put upon the other. 

None of these monuments have stood a century. Very many, 
whose shape and workmanship tell you they have a claim to be 
numbered among the oldest in this yard, are to the memory of 
little children. As in actual life, more have died in infancy than 
in old age ; so here, in the early times of this congregation, more 
monuments were raised for the young than for the old, and most 
for infants. Did these people love their parents less ? or was it the 
tender aifection of faith, softening the hearts of emigrants and their 
children, and protecting from the intrusion of careless feet, and 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 419 

larger sepulchres, the little graves, where slept the sweet flowers, 
plucked so soon away, not to perish, but to bloom in heaven for 
ever ? Religion is amiable, faith is lovely : and Christ has bound 
the Christian heart to heaven more strongly by the little ones he 
has gathered in his arms and blessed. And when did the departure 
of threescore years and ten so open the fountain of tears, as when 
the little one has gone away ? What multitudes have said, in bitter 
tears, " I will go down into the grave to my child, mourning." 

Wherever you turn, you see the influence of the continually 
moulding power of poetry and music. How deep into the heart 
the sacred songs of a worshipping congregation, sung by fathers 
and children and great-grandchildren, shoot their influence, and 
mingle with the springs of thought, and carry along the rhythm of 
the poetry and the cadence of the song, sacred from immemorial 
time. Read this : — 

In memory of 

Margaret Gilmor, 

who died March 30th, 1805. 

A good economist through life. 

In all respects was she 

A tender mother, virtuous wife. 

Deceased 3 score & 3. 

And this on the tomb of a young person — 

Stop, careless youth, and read, 

And as you read consider 
How soon the worm may feed 

On you and 1 together. 

You feel at once the cadence and rhyme of David's Psalms in 
metre, as sung in times past by the churches in Scotland, and by 
many still in America. 

Mrs. Alexander, of Poplar Tent, in her Birthday Meditations, 
everywhere shows that the Bible gave her the truths for a foun- 
dation, her catechism, the framework of her thoughts, and Watts 
the peculiar fashion. Watts's Psalms and Hymns have been sung 
these sixty years or more in Poplar Tent ; and the version of 
Rouse is still sung part of every Sabbath in public worship in 
Steele Creek. 

Of the four ministers laid in the yard, three were of the Seced- 
ing Church and congregation, as they are called, whose place of 
worship, called Little Steele Creek, is but a short distance to the 
south. The congregations are much intermingled, and both have 
retained a partiality for David's Psalms in metre. 

It is more than probable that all the congregations of the Scotch 



420 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and Irish origin would, in the southern and southwestern States, 
have become one body after the Revolution, having few causes of 
division, and many to draw them into closer union, could they 
have agreed upon their Psalmody, or used with each other the 
kindness and discretion that has been, and now is, exercised in 
Steele Creek. In some places the ineradicable prejudices of the old, 
that had sung, as their fathers did, Psalms of sacred melody, till 
they had become sweet to their ears and sweeter to their hearts, 
were not dealt with as tenderly as they might have been, in what 
seemed their unreasonableness in opposing all improvement as in- 
novation. In other cases the opposition to the use of Watts, or 
any more modern versification, was carried to a degree of bitter- 
ness unbecoming the cause. In consequence, many congrega- 
tions were split, and some that had been, and still are, reckoned 
Presbyterians, were found arrayed under the name of Seceder or 
Associate, not in war, but in self-defence. 

The sacred songs of a congregation, and the tunes chosen for 
their public worship, are a type of the piety of the people. The 
Presbyterian church has happily retrograded for the last few 
years, and sought for old paths, and the good way, to find rest. 
Had not the Assembly afforded so excellent and grave a collection 
of Psalms and Hymns for public worship, the ebbing tide would 
not have stopped at Watts's Version, it would have retreated fur- 
ther, and old Rouse would have been sung again in many con- 
gregations. Many hymns had crept into use, as profane to the 
•ears of multitudes of the pious, and as indissolubly connected 
with irreverent thoughts, as in the minds of many the organ is 
with high church notions " and all papistrie,^'' and the flute and 
the violin with all revelry. Congregations have been rent by an 
attempted change of their psalmody, and many more that now 
seem firmly united might be rent asunder by a hymn book, or a 
flute, or an organ. 

Of the four ministers that lie in this yard, two were brothers ; 
they lie side by side under one broad tablet, Francis and James 
Pringle. The latter was pastor of the Seceder church, on Steele 
Creek, and the former of a church in Ohio. Francis died on a 
visit to his brother, on the 15th of March, 1818, in the fourth 
year of his ministry, and the twenty-ninth year of his age ; James 
on the 28tli of the succeeding October, in the fifth year of his 
ministry, and the thirtieth year of his age. The two bereaved 
congregations united and erected one broad, white, marble slab, to 
cover the graves of the two pastors, united in their infancy and 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 421 

youth, united in their rehgion, undivided in death, and the hope 
of a glorious resurrection. 

On the numerous monuments around you iftay read the names 
of the old families that formed the band of emigrants to this novv^ 
populous neighborhood; — Neely, Hart, Porter, Bigham, Sloan, 
M'Dowell, Grier, Herron, Vance, Davis, Tagart and Allen, 
Many of these names are found among the early settlements in 
the Valley of Virginia, w^hich were formed a short time previously 
to this on Steele Creek. 

Let us now turn to the monument of the patriot Humphrey 
Hunter, near the Session-house on the southwestern corner ; and 
on which headstone, read 

SACRED 

to the memory of the 
Rev. Humphrey Hunter, 

who departed this life August 21st, 
1S27, in the 73d year of his age. 
He was a native of Ireland, and 
Emigrated to America at an early 
period of his life. He was one of those 
who early promoted the cause of 
freedom in Mecklenburg county, 
May 20th, 1775, and subsequently 

bore an active part in securing 

the Independence of his country. 

For nearly 3S years he labored 

as a faithful and assiduous 

Ambassador of Christ, strenuously 

enforcing the necessity of repentance, 

and pointing oui the terms of Salvation. 

As a parent he was kind and affectionate ; 

as a friend warm and sincere ; and as a 

Minister persuasive and convincing. 

Reared by the people of Steele Creek church. 

Mr. Hunter undoubtedly merited all that is said of him on the 
monument. Of that race of people of whom Gordon in his His- 
tory of Ireland sa5rs — " so great and wide was the discontent, that 
many thousands of the Protestants emigrated from those parts of 
Ulster to the American settlements, where they soon appeared in 
arms against the British government and contributed powerfully 
by their zeal and valor, to the separation of the colonies from the 
empire of Great Britain." Of whom also, Col. Tarleton in the His- 
tory of his campaigns in 1780 and 1781, speaking of the first irrup 
tion of the British troops under Lord Rawdon, into the Waxhaw 
settlement, on the borders of North Carolina — " the sentiments of 



422 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the inhabitants did not correspond with his Lordship's expecta- 
tions ; he then learned, what experience confirmed, that the Irish 
were the most averse of all the settlers to the British government 
in America." He was born on the 14th of May, 1755, in the 
vicinity of Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, the native place 
of his father. His paternal grandmother was from Glasgow, Scot- 
land ; and his maternal from Brest, in France. The blood of the 
Scotch and the Huguenot was blended in Ireland, and the de- 
scendants emigrated to America and flourished in the soil of Caro- 
lina. 

Deprived by death of his father in his fourth year, young 
Hunter embarked at Londonderry with his widowed mother for 
Charleston, S. C, on the 3d of May, 1759, on board the ship 
Helena. Arriving on the 27th of August, the family in a few 
days proceeded to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, where 
the mother purchased land in the Poplar Tent congregation, and 
remained for life. As the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty 
was one of the principal causes of his mother's emigration, it is 
not wonderful that young Hunter grew up with a spirit jealous of 
encroachment from the English crown. 

From the time of his reaching Mecklenburg till his twentieth 
year, little is known of him. We are left to the conjec- 
ture that he grew up familiar with all the'' labors and privations 
of a frontier life, by which he became fitted to endure the fatigues 
and sufferings of a military expedition. 

He attended the convention in Mecklenburg, May 20th, 1775, 
as one of the numerous crowd of spectators assembled on that 
exciting occasion. In his account of the meeting prefixed to his 
copy of the Declaration of Independence, he thus writes con- 
cerning the battle of Lexington, which took place on the 19th of 
April : " That was a wound of a deepening gangrenous nature, 
not to be healed without amputation. Intelligence of the affair 
speedily spread abroad, yea flew, as if on the wings of the wind 
collecting a storm. No sooner had it reached Mecklenburg than 
an ardent, patriotic fire glowed almost in every breast ; it was not 
to be confined ; it burst into a flame ; it blazed through every 
comer of the country. Communications from one to another 
were made with great facility. Committees were held in various 
neighborhoods ; every man was a politician. Death rather than 
slavery, was the voice comparatively of all." 

Soon after the Declaration of Independence, a regiment was 
raised in Mecklenburg, under Col. Thomas Folk, and Col. Adam 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 423 

Alexander, to march against some tories who were embodied in 
the lower part of the State. Mr. Hunter went as a private in 
the company of Capt. Charles Polk, nephew of Col, Thomas 
Polk. The tories dispersed at the approach of this force, and the 
regiment speedily returned without bloodshed or violence. 

Mr. Hunter then commenced his classical education at Clio's 
Nursery, in Rowan county (now Iredell), under the instruction of 
Rev. James Hall. The following certificates, preserved by Mr, 
Hunter, show the order of the congregation, and the care with 
which the morals of youth were watched over by church oificers 
and instructors in schools. The first appears to have been required 
for his honorable standing at Clio's Nursery : 

" This is to certify, that the Bearer, Humphrey Hunter, has 
lived in the Bounds of this Congregation upwards of four years, 
and has Behaved himself Inoffensively, Not being Guilty of any 
Immoral Conduct known to us, Exposing him to Church Censure, 
and is free from public Scandal. Given under our hands at 

" Poplar Tent, this 18th > " Ruling ( " j^R^^f ''^-^"'^'''"'^' 

day of October, 1778. ^ Elders,^ Robert' Harris," 

When General Rutherford collected a brigade from Mecklen- 
burg, Rowan, and Guilford counties, to repel the aggressions of 
the Cherokee Indians, Mr. Hunter received the commission of 
lieutenant under Captain Rob't Mayben, in one of t]ie three com- 
panies of cavalry that formed part of the corps. The campaign was 
successful ; the Indian forces were scattered, and their chiefs 
taken. 

After this campaign Mr. Hunter resumed his classical studies 
at Queen's Museum, in Charlotte, under the care of Dr. McWhor- 
ter, who had removed from New Jersey to take charge of that in- 
stitution, with flattering prospects. Of the moral and religious 
character of the young man, the following certificate in the hand- 
writing of his instructor is testimony, viz, : 

" That the bearer, Humphrey Hunter, has continued a student 
in Clio's Nursery from August, 1778, till last October ; that he 
applied to his studies with diligence ; was admitted to the sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper in Bethany Congregation ; has during 
the aforesaid Time conducted himself as a good member both of 
religious and civil Society, and is hereby well recommend[ed] to 
the Regard of any Christian Community where Divine Providence 
may order his Lot, — is certified by 

" Bethany, Jan. 12, 1780. " Jas. Hall, V.D M " 



424 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

In the summer of 1780, Liberty Hall Academy, or Queen's 
Museum, as it was originally named, was broken up by the ap- 
proach of the British army under Lord Cornwallis, after the sur- 
render of Charleston, and the massacre of Buford's regiment on 
the Waxhaw, and the course of study never resumed under the 
direction of Dr. McWhorter, who returned to New Jersey. Upon 
the breaking up of the College, the younger students were com- 
mended to their parents and guardians, and the older were urged 
to take the field in the cause of their country . It is not to be sup- 
posed that young Hunter required much urging to take up arms 
with his fellow-citizens of Mecklenburg, who five years before 
had pledged " their lives and their honor." Upon the orders 
of General Rutherford to the battalions of the western counties of 
the State, a brigade assembled at Salisbury. For the first three 
weeks, Mr. Hunter acted as commissary, and afterwards as 
lieutenant in the company of Captain Thomas Givens. Having 
scoured the tory settlement on the north-east side of the Yadkin, 
the forces under General Rutherford joined the army of General 
Gates at Cheraw. 

On the morning of the 1 6th of August, the unfortunate battle of 
Camden took place by the mutual surprise of the marching armies ; 
and the forces under Gates were completely routed. General 
Rutherford was wounded and taken prisoner, with many of his 
men. Mr. Hunter, soon after his surrender as prisoner of war, 
witnessed the death of the Baron De Kalb. He tells us, he saw 
the Baron, without suite or aide, and apparently separated from his 
command, ride facing the enemy. The British soldiers clapping 
their hands on their shoulders, in reference to his epaulettes, 
shouted, " a General, a rebel General !" Immediately a man on 
horseback (not Tarleton) met him, and demanded his sword. The 
Baron, with apparent reluctance, presented the hilt; but drawing 
back, said in French, " Are you an officer, sir ?" His antagonist, 
perhaps not understanding his question, with an oath, more sternly 
demanded his sword. The Baron dashed from him, disdaining, as 
is supposed, to surrender to any but an officer, and rode in front of 
the British line, with his hand extended. The cry along the line of, 
" A rebel General," was speedily followed by a volley, and after 
riding some twenty or thirty rods, the Baron fell. He was im- 
mediately raised to his feet, stripped of his hat, coat, and neck- 
cloth, and placed with his hands resting on the end of a wagon. 
His body had been pierced with seven balls. While standing in 
this situation, the blood streaming through his shirt, Cornwallis, 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 425 

with his suite, rode up ; and being told that the wounded man was 
De Kalb, he addressed him — " I am sorry, sir, to see you ; not 
sorry that you are vanquished, but that you are so severely 
wounded." Having given orders to an officer to administer to the 
necessities of the wounded man as far as possible, the British 
General rode on to secure his victory ; and in a little time the 
brave and generous De Kalb, who had seen service in the armies 
of France, and had embarked in the cause of the American States, 
breathed his last. 

After seven days' confinement in a prison-yard in Camden, Mr. 
Hunter was taken, with about fifty officers, to Orangeburg, S. C, 
where he remained without hat or coat until Friday, the 1 3th of 
November, about three months from the time of his captivity. On 
that day he went to visit a friendly lady, who had promised him 
a homespun coat. On his way he was met by a horseman of Col. 
Fisher's command, who accused him of being beyond the lines, 
and sternly ordered him back to the station ; threatening him with 
confinement, and trial for breach of his parole. Hunter explained, 
and apologized, and promised, but all to no purpose. " To the 
station !" " take the road !" Up the road went the rebel whig, sour 
and reluctant, and made indignant by the frequent goading with 
the point of the tory royalist's sword. Passing a large fallen 
pine, from which the limbs had been burned, he suddenly leaped 
the trunk. The horseman fired one of his pistols, — missed his 
aim, and leaped his horse after him. Hunter adroitly leaped the 
other side the trunk, and began throwing at the horseman the pine 
knots that lay thick around. The second pistol was discharged, 
but without effect. By a blow of a well-aimed pine knot the horse- 
man was brought to the ground, and disarmed by his prisoner. 
Hunter returned the tory his sword, on condition that he should 
never, on any condition, make known that any of the prisoners had 
crossed the forbidden line, or any way transgressed, promising 
himself to keep the whole matter of the late rencontre an inviolable 
secret. 

On the following Sabbath a citation was issued by Col. Fisher, 
directing all militia prisoners to appear at the Court-House by 12 
o'clock on Monday, The affair had been discovered. During 
the contest, the horse galloped off to the station with the saddle 
and holsters empty, and when the dismounted rider appeared a 
little time after with the bruises of the pine knots too visible to be 
denied, the curious inquiries that followed, baffled all his efforts at 
concealment ; it was soon noised abroad that one or more of the 



426 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

prisoners had broken parole and attacked an officer. The report 
reaching the Colonel's ears, the order was issued for their appear- 
ance at the Court-House. On Sabbath night, Hunter and a few 
others, expecting close confinement would follow their assembling 
on Monday noon, seized and disarmed the guard and escaped. He 
was nine nights in making his way back to Mecklenburg, lying by 
during the day to avoid the patroles of the British, and sustaining 
himself upon the greenest of the ears of corn he could gather 
from the unharvested fields. 

In a few days after his return home, he again joined the army, 
and became a lieutenant of cavalry under Col. Henry Hampton, 
and attached to the regiment under Col. Henry Lee, received a 
wound in the battle at the Eutaw Springs, where so much personal 
bravery was displayed. His military services closed with that 
campaign ; and he returned home with a good name, his bravery 
unquestioned and his integrity unsullied. 

He resumed his classical studies at the school taught by the 
Rev. Robert Archibald, near Poplar Tent, as appears by the fol- 
lowing certificate, in the irregular hand and crooked lines of his 
preceptor, which is the only evidence at hand of the classical 
school in that congregation immediately after the war. 

" Mecklenburg, St. N. Carolina, 

" This is to certify, that the bearer, Humphrey Hunter, has 
been some years at this school in the capacity of a student; and 
during the term has conducted himself in a sober, genteel and 
Christian manner ; and we recommend him as a youth of good 
character, to any public seminary where Divine Providence may 
cast his lot. 

" Certified and signed by order of the trustees, this 3d day of 
Nov., 1785. 

" Robert Archibald, V.D.M." 

This certificate of character appears to have been given as a 
requisite for holding his standing at Mount Zion College, his Alma 
Mater. The following from the hand of Mr. Archibald was also 
given at the same time, and probably for the same purpose. 

" Mecklenburg, State of North Carolina. 
" This is to certify that the bearer, Humphrey Hunter, has 
lived in the bounds of this congregation from his Infancy, and be- 
haved himself in a sober and Christian manner, is in full com- 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 427 

munion with the church, and clear of all public scandal known to 
us ; and we recommend him to the care of any Christian society 
where God in his providence may cast his lot. Certified and 
signed by order of sessions, at Poplar Tent, this 3d of November, 
1785. 

" RoBT. Archibald, V.D.M." 

During the summer of 1785 he was entered as a student of 
Mount Zion College, at Winnsborough, in South Carolina, which 
after the war for a time supplied the place of Liberty Hall, or 
Queen's Museum, at Charlotte, in completing the classical educa- 
tion of young men desirous of entering upon professional life. 

The following is a copy of his degree, granted by the trustees 
of that institution, which has long since passed away, after having 
been for a time a shining light directing in the path of science and 
literature, Alumni that have honored their Alma Mater and the 
church, men in whom any institution may have gloried. The 
original is in beautiful German Text. 

" pr^fectus et curatores 

collegii montis sionis, 

Omnibus et singulis ad quos haec literae pervenerint. 

Salutem in Domini. 
Notum sit quod nobis placet Auctoritate publico Diplomate 
nobis commissa, Humfredum Hunter, candidatum primum in 
Arlibus Graduum competcntem examine sufl&ciente previo approba- 
tum Titulo graduque Artium libcralium Baccalaurei adornare. 
In cujus Rei Testimonium Literis Sigillo Collegii munitis nomina 
subscripsimus. 

" Thomas H. McCaule, Prof.-l. 
" John Winn, 



OHNWINN, ) T^,^,,,y 
James Craig, S 



" Datum in Aula Collegii, apud Winnsburgium, in Carolina Me- 
ridionali, quarto Nonas Julii, Anno Arce Christi millesimo septua- 
gentesimo et octogesimo septimo." 

Having pursued the study of theology about two years, under 
the Presbytery of South Carolina, he received license to preach 
the gospel, in the following words, viz. : 

''Bullock's Creek, Oct. 15th, 1789. 
" The Presbytery having examined Mr. Humphrey Hunter on 



428 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the Latin and Greek languages, the sciences and divinity, and 
being well satisfied with his moral and religious character, and his 
knowledge of the languages, sciences, and divinity, do license him 
to preach the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, — and affection- 
ately recommend him to our vacancies. 

" James Edmunds, ModV. 

" Robert Hall, Preshyt. Clerk.''^ 

A call, in the usual form of the Confession of Faith, was made 
out for Mr. Hunter, from the congregations of Hopewell, on Jef- 
frey's Creek, and Aimwell, on Pee Dee, in South Carolina, and 
signed the 1st day of October, 1791, by the following names : — 
Thomas Wickham, Gavin Witherspoon, John Ervin, L. Derkins, 
Hugh Ervin, Thos. Cann, Jerem. Gurley, Aaron Gasque, Wm. 
Stone, John Gregg, Joseph Burch, Hance Davis, Joseph Jelly, 
Hugh Muldrow, Jas. Greer, John Carson, W. Flagler, Wm. Gregg, 
James Thompson,^James Hudson, Joseph Gregg, Thos. Hudson, 
John Cooper, David Bigem, John Orr, James Orr, J. Baxter, Wm. 
Wilson, Henry Futhey, G. Bigham, Alexr. Pettigrew, Wm. Mul- 
drow, J. Muldrow, jr., James Cole, John McRee, John Wither- 
spoon, Thomas Ca^ady, Robert Gregg. 

Probably not a man that signed the call now lives ; but the pre- 
ceding list may direct some of their descendants to a parent's 
name, at the same time it shows to us the manner of signing a call 
some fifty years ago. The salary promised was £120 sterling per 
annum, about $533,33J cts. 

Mr. Hunter's name first appears upon the records of Synod as a 
member in 1793. 

In the year 1795, Mr. Hunter removed to Lincoln County, and 
became a member of Orange Presbytery on the first day of its 
first meeting, at Bethphage, Dec. 24th. The same year, by act 
of Synod, the 'Presbytery of Concord was set off, consisting of 
twelve members, of which he w^as to be one. Upon a call, made 
out in the usual form, for half his time, by the inhabitants of 
Goshen congregation, promising him sixty-two pounds ten shil- 
lings current money of North Carolina, or fifty pounds in gold or 
silver dollars at eight shillings, and gold in proportion, the follow- 
ing names appear, viz. : Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson, Jr., 
Andrew Johnson, Joseph Dickson, Wm. Rankin, Henry Davies, 
John McCaul, Robert Alexander, James Martin, James Rutlcdge, 
James Gullick, Benjamin Smith, James Dickson, William Moore, 
Jonathan Graves, David Baxter, John Moore, Samuel Caldwell, 
Robert Curry. This call he accepted, March 30th, 1796. 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 429 

It would be interesting to the present inhabitants of Unity con- 
gregation, which was united with Goshen in the labors of a pastor 
and in his support, their call having been presented and accepted 
March 30th, 1796, could the signers of the call from that congre- 
gation be given ; it, however, was not found among the papers of 
Mr. Hunter. These two congregations embraced the region of 
country lying along the west side of the Catawba, from some dis- 
tance above Beattie's Ford, to the South Carolina line, and from the 
river to the large congregation of Olney, at that time flourishing 
and extending over a large section of the country southwest of 
the Court-House. 

Goshen was a place of occasional preaching at a very early 
period of the settlement of the region west of the Catawba. Its 
location was decided by a singular circumstance. A stranger pass- 
ing through the country, probably in search of a proper place for 
emigration, took sick, and after a length of time, died. During 
his sickness and the previous short sojourn among the people along 
the west bank of the Catawba, his pleasing manners gained him 
the sympathies of the whole settlement. He was buried on the 
brow of a gentle declivity. One family after another chose to 
bury their dead on the declivity by the stranger ; and that spot be- 
came the place of interment for the whole neighborhood. In choos- 
ing the place for their tent for public worship, and afterwards for 
the church, their reverence for the -dead led the inhabitants to the 
same spot. The first church stood a few rods from the present, 
at one corner of the burying-ground. 

Before the erection of Goshen and Unity as churches and con- 
gregations, the nearest places of worship were Steele Creek, Centre, 
Hopewell, Charlotte, and Olney. To these places the most con- 
tiguous neighborhoods resorted, till the increasing numbers, as well 
as the distance, rendered the organization of the two congregations 
necessary. Owing to the small number of clergymen and the 
habits incident to a frontier settlement, the bounds of the congrega- 
tions were large, and the border families rode far for the ordinances 
of the Gospel. In this unavoidable arrangement, there were, in 
the early settlement of the country, many advantages that went far 
to counterbalance all the difiiculties that arose from the distance to 
the house of God. 

For many years before his death, Mr. Hunter became pastor of 
Steele Creek church, having received their call in 1805, and devoted 
to the people of that charge part of his unremitting labors ; the re- 
mainder he gave to New Hope, having been released from Goshen 



430 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in 1804. At his death the people of Steele Creek had the privilege 
of giving him a place of sepulture, and of erecting a marble head- 
stone to his grave. 

His own taste, and the necessities of his neighbors and parish- 
ioners led him, in the almost total want of good physicians, 
to pay some attention to medicine, and to prescribe in cases of 
necessity. His success became burdensome, and threatened, for a 
time, to interfere with his ministerial duties and his proper atten- 
tion to his own family concerns. This laborious attention to the 
physical maladies of his people was never a source of pecuniary 
profit; it was the exercise of his benevolence. 

As a minister he was always distinguished for his evangelical 
sentiments and orthodoxy according to the Confession of Faith of 
the Presbyterian Church. In his preaching he was earnest, un- 
assuming, and often eloquent. Possessing a strong mind with 
powers of originality, and trained by the discipline of a classical 
education under men capable of producing scholars, he consecrat- 
ed all his talents and acquirements to preaching the everlasting 
gospel, counting all things but loss for the excellency of the know- 
ledge of Christ Jesus. In his advanced years his infirmities very 
much contracted his active labors, without impairing the vigor and 
discrimination of his mental powers, or the fervency and faithful- 
ness of his preaching. 

He possessed in a high degree a talent for refined sarcasm ; and 
his answer to triflers with his office or the great truths of religion, 
and sticklers for unimportant things, was a shaft from this quiver 
that pierced to the marrow. His benevolence as a minister, and 
his tenderness as a neighbor, forbade its use in his social intercourse. 
Honest objections, and difficulties arising from want of knowledge 
or proper reflection, he would meet kindly with truth and argu- 
ment ; sophistry and cavils he considered as deserving nothing but 
the lash which he knew how to apply till it stung like a scorpion. 

His habits of preparation for the pulpit, like those of the labori- 
ous men of his own generation and the days preceding, were 
reading, prayerful meditation, and short notes. As he wrote no 
sermons in full, he of course never read his discourses from the 
pulpit. A close observer of men and things, a close reasoner, lie 
was classic in his style and systematic in his preaching. His con- 
gregations were well instructed in divine truth according to the 
orthodoxy of the Confession of Faith ; and were sufficiently tried 
to test their knowledge and their faith during the excitements and 
discussions that accompanied the great revival. 



REV. HUMPHREY HUNTER. 431 

He met death in a manner becoming a Christian minister, re- 
signed and unshaken, and expired on the 21st of August, 1827, in 
the 74th year of his age. The writer of a short memoir that ap- 
peared tlie year succeeding, the only one of Mr. Hunter that ever 
w^as given to the pubhc, concludes thus, — " The stars of the Re- 
volutionary contest are rapidly setting. They shine with addi- 
tional lustre as they go down from our view. They leave behind 
them a generation blessed with the light of their example, and 
permitted to gather the fruit of their toils. Another mighty revo- 
lution must take place before such a cluster of worthies will live 
and labor together. When, therefore, they pass from the stage of 
action, let not their posterity cease to venerate their names and re- 
cord their virtues." 

Mr. Hunter was above the ordinary stature, of a robust frame, 
and dark complexion. His eye indicated great intrepidity of cha- 
racter, and at times sternness, and sometimes the withering sar- 
casm that he knew how to wield with so much power. Of great 
simplicity of manners, his strong feelings and great candor made 
him above all affectation ; sincere in his friendship, ingenuous in 
his dealings with men ; while the evil feared him, good men 
loved him, — and as they knew him better they only loved him the 



432 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CENTRE CONGREGATION. 

General Davidson fell on the eastern bank of the Catawba, on the 
western borders of Centre Congregation, resisting the passage of the 
British forces under Lord Cornwallis. . After the celebrated victory 
of the Cowpens, Morgan hastened with his numerous prisoners 
tow^ards Virginia, taking his route through Lincoln county. North 
Carolina, in the direction of Beattie's Ford, that he might place the 
army of Greene between him and the British army. Cornwallis 
moved up the western side of the river to intercept him and recover 
the prisoners ; Greene moved up the eastern side to meet and succor 
his friend. 

Here commenced the trial of generalship and skill between the 
two commanders, which was decided at the battle of Guilford, in the 
following March. The three bodies having about the same distance 
to march, to reach the ford, everything depended on the speed of 
Morgan's forces, encumbered as they were with their numerous rest- 
less captives. Greene left his army, and with a small guard rode 
across the country, and by his presence cheered the soldiers of 
Morgan to still greater speed; they gained the ford first. The 
morning after the crossing, Cornwallis was on the southern bank, 
hot in pursuit, but disappointed of his prey. The river, during the 
succeeding night, became swollen from the abundant rains ; and the 
two days of delay to the British army, gave Morgan that advance 
towards Virginia, that his Lordship turned his whole attention to 
Greene, from whom he could not, with honor, retreat, — or cease to 
pursue. 

Leaving General Davidson w^ith the North Carolina force, to 
delay the crossing of the enemy as long as possible, Greene hastened 
on, in the rear of Morgan, to throw the Yadkin between him and 
his advancing foe. Graham's rifle company was stationed at 
Cowan's Ferry, a few miles below Beattie's Ford, where, after some 
manoeuvres, the passage was at length attempted, and kept up a 
galling fire on the British line, as it waded the Catawba. Many 
officers and privates went down the stream or disappeared beneath 
the waters, pierced by their deadly balls. General Davidson, 
attracted by the firing, rode to the bank for observation, accompanied 



CENTRE CONGREGATION. 433 

by Colonel Polk, of Charlotte, and the Rev. Thomas H. McCaule, 
the pastor of the congregation that now lay in the track of the hos- 
tile armies. In a few moments he fell from his horse, dead, by a rifle 
shot. As the British infantry used muskets only, it was supposed 
that a tory, who had acted as guide to the enemy, and knew David- 
son, gave the fatal shot from the opposite bank. No one ever 
claimed the honor of the death of the most popular man in the re- 
gion ; and his rank did not protect his body from being plundered 
to nakedness. The militia and volunteers now gave way, and has- 
tened after Greene, who was in Salisbury refreshing himself, with 
Mrs. Steele, in preparation for crossing the Yadkin, 

General William Davidson was born in Lancaster county, Penn- 
sylvania, 1746, the youngest son of George Davidson. The family 
removed to Carolina in 1750. Young Davidson was educated at 
Que£ii's Museum. He was major of one of the first regiments raised 
in Carolina during the w^ar. The n)onument voted by Congress has 
never been erected. His body, buried without a coffin, lies like that 
of his friends. Dr. Brevard and Hezekiah Alexander, without a stone 
to mark the place. 

The boundaries of Centre congregation were originally large, and, 
with the limits of Thyatira, filled a broad space from the Ca- 
tawba to the Yadkin : they began at John Cathey's, south of Beattie's 
Ford, on the Catawba ; from thence to Matthew M'Corkle's and 
Thomas Harris's ; from thence to David Kerr's, on the old Salisbury 
Road; from thence to Galbraith Nails, northeast corner; from 
thence to John Oliphant's ; from thence down the river to the first- 
named place. 

The first Presbytery that met between the two rivers held its 
sessions in Centre ; the first meeting of Concord Presbytery was in 
Centre ; and there too the " Synod of the Carolinas" was organized. 
The tradition is, that the first white child born between the two 
rivers was in Centre, in a tent pitched upon a broad flat rock; the 
name of the child is not certain, supposed however to be Mary Bar- 
net, granddaughter of Thomas Spratt, that settled finally near Char- 
lotte, and held the first court of Mecklenburg county at his house. 

The location of Centre Meeting-house was a matter of compro- 
mise in 1765, The various missionaries that had been sent to 
preach in the southern vacancies, had previously held meetings for 
public worship at Osborne's meeting-house, and various private 
houses in the different neighborhoods. By the persuasions of the 
delegates sent by the Synod of Philadelphia, the various preaching- 
places were given up, and a centre spot chosen for the permanent 
28 



434 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

worship of the large congregation which lies partly in each of the 
two counties, Iredell and Mecklenburg. The names of many fami- 
lies embraced in this congregation were notorious in the Revolution, 
particularly those of Brevard, Osborne, and Davidson. 

The inhabitants were of the same race as those of Sugar Creek 
and Hopewell ; of equal spirit in public matters, and as decided in 
religion ; and were building their cabins at the same time with the 
congregation of Thyatira. 

During the Revolutionary war, the Rev. Thomas Harris McCaule 
was pastor of this large congregation, having been ordained in 
1776, when the congregation covered about ten miles square- 
Little is known of his early life. Scarce of the medium height, of 
a stout frame, and full body, of dark, piercing eyes, a pleasant coun- 
tenance, and winning manners, with a fine voice, he was popular 
both as a preacher and as a marl. Public-spirited, he encouraged 
the Revolution ; and in the time of the invasion, went with his 
flock to the camp, and was beside General William Davidson when 
he fell. Of so much repute was he, as a public-spirited man, that 
he was once run for the Governor's chair, and failed in the election 
by a very small vote. His classical attainments were such, that 
after the peace, when Mount Zion College was established at 
Winnsborough in South Carolina, he was made its principal Pro- 
fessor. Many eminent ministers were trained under his instruction. 

Who was Mr. McCaule's predecessor is not now known, and his 
successor is equally undetermined. Dr. McRee, in his manuscripts, 
tells us that there was a flourishing classical school in the bounds 
of Centre at a very early period, and after continuing about twenty 
years was broken up by the invasion. In this school he was him- 
self educated ; also. Professor Houston of Princeton College, Rev. 
Josiah Lewis, Colonel Adlai Osborne, Dr. Ephraim Brevard and 
others. But he does not tell us whether Mr. McCaule was con- 
nected with the school. A part of the time it was carried on by a 
Mr. McEwin. 

Dr. James McRee, who ministered for about thirty years to this 
congregation, was born May 10th, 1752, about a mile from the 
present place of worship, on the place now owned by Rufus Reed, 
Esq. His parents were from the County Down, Leland, and emi- 
grated soon alter their marriage. " They belonged," he says, " to 
the Presbyterian denomination, talked often about the reformation 
from Popery, the bloody Queen Mary, the battle of the Boyne, the 
death of Duke Schomberg, the gunpowder plot, and the accession 
of William, Prince of Orange, to the British throne." 



CENTRE CONGREGATION. 435 

From his description of his father's library, we can have some 
idea of the man, and probably of the times and neighborhood, as it 
is not spoken of as extraordinary, except in its size. It consisted 
of the Holy Bible, the Confession of Faith, Vincent's Catechism, 
Boston's Fourfold State of Man, Allein's Alarm to Sinners, Baxter's 
Call to the Unconverted, and his Saint's Rest. As a specimen of 
the religious reading of Centre congregation, it is commendable, 
considering the difficulty of procuring books, and the fact that hw 
possessed more. The religious sentiments formed from these vol- 
umes were not likely to be erroneous or inefficient. He further 
adds that it was the custom every Sabbath day, to ask the questions 
of the Shorter Catechism to each member of the family in rotation ; 
and the young people that could not repeat them, were not con- 
sidered as holding a respectable rank in society. 

At the age of twenty-one, he entered the junior class in Prince- 
ton College, in the year 1773, having received his common and his 
academic education while residing in Carolina. After receiving 
his degree of A.B,, he spent a year as private tutor in the family of 
Colonel Burwell Bassett, in New Kent county, Virginia. The 
winter of 1776 and 1777 he passed reading theology, under the 
direction of " his highly esteemed former teacher and friend, the 
Rev. Joseph Alexander, of Bullock's Creek, in South Carolina." In 
April, 1778, he was licensed by Concord Presbytery to preach the 
gospel ; and in the November following he was settled in his own 
house in Steele Creek congregation, as pastor of the church, having 
been united in marriage to Rachel Cruser of Mapleston, New Jer- 
sey. He continued with this congregation about twenty years. 

During the time of his being pastor of this congregation the sub- 
ject of psalmody was extensively discussed, particularly in relation 
to the introduction of Watts's Psalms and Hymns. Mr. M'Ree de- 
livered a course of sermons on the whole subject of Psalmody as 
part of Christian worship, and condensed the substance of his dis- 
courses into an essay of great clearness and force, which has not 
been surpassed for strength of argument or clearness of expression. 
Should an essay on that subject be demanded by the times, Mr. 
M'Ree might, though dead, still speak to posterity. 

The scenes of his early ministry were too deeply impressed upon 
his mind to be erased by an absence of forty years. In a letter to 
W. L. Davidson, dated Svvannanoe, January 26th, 1838, he says, — 
" If my desires were fully gratified, I should yet see, with my feeble 
vision, the meeting-houses of Steele Creek and Centre, the grave- 
yards in which my relations, friends, acquaintance, contemporaries, 



436 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lie. And not only these, but all the surrounding congregations, 
which were generally vacant when I settled in Steele Creek, and 
which I often visited as supply. Often have I ridden in the morn- 
ing to Bethel, Providence, Sugar Creek and Hopewell, and returned 
home in the evening of that day. These scenes, these doings, now 
while I am writing, are as fresh on my mind as the events of yes- 
terday." 

After giving up Steele Creek, various vacancies were presented to 
him for consideration ; Pine-street Church, Philadelphia, Princeton, 
New Jersey, and Augusta, Georgia, and his native congregation 
Centre. " The shortness of life, the uncertainty of all things here, 
extensive acquaintance, relations, numerous friends, a pleasant, health- 
ful country, native soil, all combined and said, stay where you are." 
He was settled in Centre in 1798, and continued pastor of the 
church about thirty years. 

On account of infirmities of age he gave up his pastoral charge, 
and removed into the mountains and resided with his children. In 
the year 1839, he said his children, grandchildren, and great-grand- 
children, amounted to eighty. He said he preached more than one 
thousand times in Steele Creek church ; and at that time not one was 
living that used to meet him there as members of his church ; that 
he laid in Steele Creek grave-yard his father and mother, five bro- 
thers and two sisters ; that he preached in Centre about two thou- 
sand times ; and that on leaving his congregations he was unable 
to preach a farewell on account of his own feelings. 

In writing to W. L. Davidson, of Centre, from Swannanoe, he 
says, " We often think of you. The faithful friend, who has lived 
with me almost sixty-one years, often says ' Betse}' Lee Davidson.' 
Mr. Addison put it into the mouth of Cardinal Wolsey to say, ' the 
king shall have my service, but my prayers for ever and for ever shall 
be yours.' Here, among the mountains, I may terminate the few 
last days that may remain of a long life ; but my warmest affections 
and best wishes will never be withdrawn from the place of my na- 
tivity. The present inhabitants, as to me, are nearly all new comers ; 
I wish them well ; and sincerely wish that they may do better in 
their day than their fathers have done, who have gone before them, 
and purchased for them, at the high price of their blood, a rich in- 
heritance. 

" May the decline of your lives, which has already made its ap- 
pearance, be attended with many and rich mercies ! May your last 
days be your best days ; and may your final departure, like the set- 
ting sun, be serene and full of glory !" 



CENTRE CONGREGATION. 437 

Of middling stature, handsomely proportioned, agreeable in man- 
ners, winning in conversation, neat in his dress, dignified in the 
pulpit, fluent in his delivery, he was a popular preacher, and re- 
tained his influence long after he ceased to be active in the vine- 
yard. Always a friend of education ; in the latter part of his life 
he became increasingly anxious for the prosperity of academies, 
colleges, and theological seminaries, to meet the wants of the rising 
generation ; deeply convinced that the welfare of his beloved coun- 
try depends upon intelligence, morality and religion. He closed 
his career March 28th, 1840. 

Bethel and Prospect are both within the old bounds of Centre. 
Davidson College, that took its name from General William David- 
son, has its location also in Centre, which still continues a large 
congregation, and for many years has been but a short time unsup- 
plied by a regular minister. Davidson College will be noticed in 
another place. Mr. Espy, that ministered here for a time, lies buried 
in Salisbury, and is noticed under the head of Thyatira. The grave- 
yard of Centre has monuments for the following names of families 
settled in its bounds before the Revolution : — Davidson, Rees, 
Hughes, Ramsey, Brevard, Osborne, Winslow, Kerr, Rankin, Tem- 
pleton, Dickey, Braley, Moore and Emerson. 



438 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



CHAPTER XXX. 



POPLAR TENT AND ITS PASTORS. 



It has ever been an acknowledged rule of propriety, that in po- 
litical discussions and excitements which relate to persons and 
affairs rather than principles of constitutional right and natural 
justice, the ministers of the gospel should keep themselves un- 
committed, and, in the exercise of unalienable rights as citizens, 
maintain the character of ministers of the King of kings, who 
bring the offers of mercy alike to all. There are, however, times 
when the excitements in society involve the greatest interests and 
the most valuable and dear privileges ; when truth and justice, 
liberty and morality, are struggling against power and oppression ; 
when the spirits that are thirsting for a better state of things, re- 
quire all the support that can be brought to their aid from the seen 
and the unseen world, from the succors of things temporal, and 
the powerful influence of things eternal. Then the ministers of 
the gospel must mingle in the strife, bringing from the treasury 
of the Lord the all-sustaining truths of revelation ; drinking deep 
of the fountains of life to keep their own spirits pure, and putting 
to the lips of the brave and the weak-hearted, in the fierce strug- 
gle, the pure water of the living stream. No strength is so abid- 
ing and resistless, no courage so daring and yet so cool, as that 
which rests for its help on the unchanged truth and government of 
the eternal God. Such a time and such a conjuncture was the 
American Revolution. And many ministers of the gospel went 
down into the struggle. Some sat in the councils of deliberation 
and resolve, and others bore the fatigues of the camp, partaking 
of the trials of their fellow-citizens in their bloody contests. In 
Carolina, Hall and McCaule encouraged their fellow-citizens, 
their flocks particularly, as soldiers ; Balch, and Patlillo, and 
Caldwell, aided in the councils and high resolves of Convention 
and Provincial Congress, and others endured the miseries of an 
invaded people, plundered but not subdued. 

In the convention that met in Charlotte, May 19th, 1775, there 
was one minister of the gospel, Hczckiah James Balch, of Poplar 
Tent. That he was active in the preparatory steps for that con- 



POPLAR TENT. 439 

vention is evident from the fact that he was one of the members 
that prepared resolutions to be submitted to the convention, which 
resolutions, after consultation, were amended and adopted by the 
committee, and by the convention, and published to the world. 
This gentleman was reported by the Presbytery of Donegall as a 
licentiate in the spring of 1768. In the year ^1769 the minutes of 
the Synod of New York and Philadelphia have this record : " The 
Rev. Messrs. John Harris, John Clark, Jeremiah Halsey, James 
Latta, Jonathan Elmore, Thomas Lewis, and Josiah Lewis a 
licensed candidate, are appointed to supply the vacancies in Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, and those parts of South Carolina under 
our care, to set off as soon, and spend as much time among them, 
as they conveniently can on this important mission." 

" Mr. Hezekiah James Balch, a licensed candidate, under the 
care of Donegall Presbytery, is appointed on the same mission, and 
the Presbytery to which he belongs are authorized to ordain him, 
if upon trial he acquits himself according to their satisfaction, and 
accepts a call from Carolina." 

" Ordered, that our stated clerk give these missionaries proper 
testimonials." 

What time Mr. Balch first visited Carolina is not precisely known. 
But from the records of Synod it appears that he had been ordained 
by the Presbytery of Donegall previous to the meeting of the Synod 
in 1770. At the meeting of the Synod in that year the Presbytery 
of Orange was set-off, by taking from the Presbytery of Hanover 
Rev. Messrs. Hugh McAden, Henry Pattillo, James Criswell, Jo- 
seph Alexander, and Hezekiah Balch, — and from the Presbytery 
of Donegall, Hezekiah James Balch. This Presbytery embraced 
the ministers in the entire State of North Carolina ; and until the 
year 1784, those ministers in connection with the Synod residing 
in the state of South Carolina. At that period the State lines be- 
came the boundary. 

Mr. Balch served the two congregations. Rocky River and Pop- 
lar Tent, during his life, which was brought to a close some time 
in the year 1776. He saw the commencement of that war which 
ended with all the honor and independence to his» country he ever 
desired ; but before the strife of blood and plunder that followed 
the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776, reached Caro- 
lina, he slept with those whose sleep shall not be awakened till 
the resurrection. His time of service was about six years. 

Rocky River congregation is prior in point of time to Sugar 
Creek, and the first of all the churches of Concord Presbytery. 



440 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Poplar Tent was organized about the year 1764 or 1765, when 
the resolution of Synod was carried into effect by Messrs. Spen- 
cer and McWhorter, and the boundaries of the congregations as- 
certained and agreed upon. 

Poplar Tent Meeting-house may be found about seven miles 
from Concord town, in Cabarrus, on the road leading to Beattie's 
Ford, and about fourteen miles eastwardly of Davidson's College, 
From the papers of a venerable old lady, who was born, lived all 
her days in the bounds of the congregation, and died at the age of 
90, in the year 1843, the following is an extract: " I had a 
brother born April 25th, 1764, and I was ten years old the March 
before he was born ; and I do not remember of hearing, at that 
time, of any other place of public worship but at Rocky River." 
(Rocky River Church is about 9 or 10 miles east from P. T.) 
"But I had another brother, born October 25th, 1766, and I re- 
member very well of being at a meeting at Poplar Tent the sum- 
mer before he was born ; and at that time there was a more ele- 
gant Tent than I ever saw on that ground since, but no meeting- 
house. But between '66 and '70, there was a good meeting-house 
built and tolerably well seated. And the Rev. Hezekiah (J). 
Balch w^as a placed minister between Rocky River and Poplar 
Tent." 

Another tradition related by Dr. Robinson, adds to this account 
without contradicting it — and says a Tent was erected and an oc- 
casional service was obtained from the missionaries and other min- 
isters, for some years before regular preaching was obtained. 

By tent^ was meant a place for the preacher to occupy during 
public worship, very similar to the stands that are erected for the 
convenience of congregations in summer, in places where there 
are no church-buildings, or where the conveniences for seating a 
congregation in summer are not sufficient. All traditions agree, 
that this tent was the most showy in the country, and soon became 
a place for a large assemblage on the Sabbath. The Scotch and 
Scotch-Irish emigrants to the Carolinas used these tents in all 
seasons of the year, till they could build a house ; and afterwards, 
during the warnj season ; and when the congregations were large, 
irrespective of tlie season ; sometimes, as Dr. Hall tells us, 
standing in the rain and snow, in crowds, to hear the gospel 
preached. The first sermons by the famous Robinson, in 
Charlotte county, Virginia, 1742, were delivered from a stand 
near the site of Cub Creek church, and to a Scotch-Irish colony. 



POPLAR TENT, 441 

led there by the maternal grandfather of John Caldwell Calhoun, 
of South Carolina. 

The name of the Ridge, the meeting-house, and the congrega- 
tion, originated in the following manner, according to the manu- 
script of Mr. Alexander : — " That hill, on which the meeting-house 
now stands, was called Poplar Ridge, long before there was an}'- 
tent there, from some very extraordinary large trees, that grew a 
small distance west from where the meeting-house now stands. 
But after the tent was built some time, there were some men col- 
lected, for some purpose, at that place, and, as I understood, there 
was some proposition made, ' what are we to call this place ?' 
One said, call it Poplar Springs ; another standing by, having a 
cup of water in his hand, threw the water against the tent, and 
cried out, ' Poplar Tent !' And I do not remember that I heard 
of any one making objection at that time, against the name ; and 
it has been called Poplar Tent ever since, and was taken by that 
name on the missionary papers into the northern States. Now 
Poplar Tent went on regularly, friendly, and religiously ; no dis- 
pute nor discontent between them and their minister, he taught 
them carefully, both in his preaching and examinations, and they 
appeared to hearken with attention." 

There is nowhere a monument or tradition to direct to the grave 
of Hezekiah James Balch ; or anywhere a living mortal to claim 
him as ancestor. But his deeds live after him, and claim for him 
a name and place amongst those' who Imve Avell done for their 
country and the church. 

Previous to the time of Mr. Balch tliere were three elders of 
Rocky River Church living in the bounds of Poplar Tent, wlio were 
continued as elders after the separate organization of Poplar Tent, 
of which they formed part, viz : Aaron Alexander, Nathaniel 
Alexander, and David Reese. The latter gentleman was a mem- 
ber of the Mecklenburg Convention. 

To these were added in the year 1771, by the choice of the 
church, James Barr, Robert Harris, James Alexander, George 
Alexander, and James Reese. 

After the death of Mr. Balch, Poplar Tent was for a time va- 
cant, and received such supplies from missionaries as could be 
obtained until Mr. Robert Archibald became the regular preacher. 
Of the early life of Mr. Archibald little is known. He received 
his Degree of Bachelor of Arts at Princeton, in 1772 ; and after 
studying medicine was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange in 
the fall of the year 1775. In the year 1778, on the 7tli of Octo- 



442 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ber, he was ordained and installed pastor of Rocky River, and 
continued to hold this office till he was brought into difficulties for 
preaching erroneous doctrines, about the year 1792, for which, in 
1794, he was suspended from the work of the ministry by the 
consent and with the advice of Synod, and in 1797 solemnly de- 
posed. 

Mr. Caruthers states that he was ordained pastor of Poplar Tent 
at the same time that the connection was formed with Rocky River. 
Mrs, Alexander dates his connection somewhat later. All she says 
of him by way of dates, is comprised in these few words : " Until 
Mr. Archibald came and took the charge of Rocky River and Pop- 
lar Tent, which was somewhere about '87 or '88, and in a few 
years he left Poplar Tent." 

From two certificates given Mr. Humphrey Hunter in the year 
1785, and signed by Mr. Archibald, it appears that Mr. Archibald 
was connected with the church of Poplar Tent at that time ; and 
had been teaching school for some time previous within its bounds. 
It is probable that Mrs. Alexander mistook the date, not being anx- 
ious to recall the errors of one whose sins had been visited heavily 
upon him personally, and whose fall had grieved the congregation 
that loved the truth more than the minister. 

During the ministry of Mr. Archibald, the discussion respecting 
the Psalmody of the Church was carried on with vehemence in 
Poplar Tent. Mr. Archibald favored the introduction of Watts's 
Psalms and Hymns ; with him many of the congregation concur- 
red ; but many were violently opposed, preferring the Psalms in 
which their ancestors had worshipped God, with all their deficien- 
cies of rhyme, to the smoother versification of Watts. The major- 
ity of the congregation, after some acquaintance with the produc- 
tions of Watts, preferred them for private worship and favored their 
use in the public service of the house of God, and proposed that 
they should be introduced into the worship of the congregation 
and used part of the day. This compromise was rejected, says 
Mrs. Alexander, and " when Mr. Archibald saw there was no hope 
of getting Watts's Psalms introduced into public worship peace- 
ably, he went up into the pulpit and told them he was determined 
to have them made use of for time to come ; and he did so. And 
at times when these psalms were sung, some would go out of hear- 
ing ; and some others left the Tent and went and joined other 
churches that despised Watts's Psalms. Another time^ at the 
Tent we met for public worship, the minister had just begun, and 
when he began to read the psalm one man was so presuming as to 



POPLAR TENT. 443 

get up and say to him — ' give us none of your new lilts — give us 
the Psalm the Saviour sung at the Supper.'' The minister stopped 
and commanded him to sit down and not disturb the worship 
of God, and then went on. The man turned about and went out 
of the house, and never was in that house again at pubhc worship." 
This person Hved near the church in a house still standing. This 
may be considered as a specimen of the excited feeling that was 
manifested in some places about the introduction of Watts's 
Hymns to the displacing of the Psalms of David in Metre, which 
had been devoutly used by all the Presbyterian congregations in 
Carolina. 

Previous to this time the different classes of Presbyterians in 
their clustering settlements had united in congregations, and the 
various names known in the mother land were losing their dis- 
tinctive influence, and the minority were inclined to fall in with 
the majority, and in their American feeling lose the difference they 
had once cherished. The discussion about psalmody brought 
about a new state of feeling, which after some heated discussions 
resulted in a separation, that remains unsettled to this day. Those 
that preferred Watts's Psalms held their connection with the Phi- 
ladelphia Synod, from which has since been formed the General 
Assembly ; and those that preferred the Psalms of David in Metre, 
sepai-ated in their church connection from their brethren, still re- 
taining the same creed and Presbyterial forms, constituted a Pres- 
bytery, and are called Associates, and sometimes Seceders, The 
congregations are intermingled, and, with characteristic persever- 
ance, maintain their peculiarities to this day. The asperity of the 
division having subsided, the congregations live in peace and mu- 
tual respect, and cherish in their bounds much devoted piety. 

The Revolutionary war was commenced in the lifetime of 
Mr. Balch, and had his life been spared we should in all proba- 
bility have found him in the camp, like Hall and McCaule. Of 
his successor, Archibald, there are no traditions of a military cast. 
His congregations, particularly that of Poplar Tent, were com- 
paratively free from the depredations and inroads of the enemy, 
and not disturbed by the collisions of divided neighborhoods, 
from which some of the greatest sufferings of 'the war had their 
origin. Says Mrs. Alexander, " They had peace in their neighbor- 
hood ; there was no contention among them relative to the war ; 
they were all of one mind as a band of brothers, and w^erc faithful 
one to another, and could sleep peaceably in their houses, while 
other settlements not far off were greatly distressed by their cruel 



444 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

treatment of one another, killing some, banishing others, and even 
shooting some little boys, while they were pleading for mercy, 
because their fathers were of a different opinion from them in re- 
spect to the war." 

Mr. Archibald was a man of talent, of an amiable disposition, 
and considered a good classical scholar ; but was careless in his 
manners, and extremely negligent in his dress and general appear- 
ance. Sonae domestic afflictions, fancied or real, preyed upon his 
spirits, and were the occasion of indulgence to an unwaiTantable 
degree in intoxicating drinks. About the year 1792 he openly 
taught the doctrine of Universal Salvation ; having first changed 
from Calvinism to Arminianism, and from thence wandered on to 
the. universal restoration of all men. His connection with the con- 
gregations was at once dissolved, and his authority to preach soon 
taken from him by the advice and consent of Synod ; deposition 
followed ; and the remainder of his life was a tissue of unhappy 
events. He never returned to the communion of the church, or 
retracted the errors for which he suffered its discipline. Mr. Ca- 
ruthers tells us, on the authority of Mr. Mclver, that continuing 
to preach wherever he could obtain -hearers, in one of his rambles 
through South Carolina he encountered a shrewd old lady who in 
her younger days had lived in the north of Ireland, and the follow- 
ing dialogue ensued : Lady. — " I'm tould. Sir, you preach that a' 
men will be saved. Is that your opinion ?" Mr. A. — " Yes ; I 
think that after enduring some punishment, all will at last be saved." 
Lady. — " D'ye think that so?ne will gae to hell, and stay there a 
while, and then come out again ?" Mr. A. — " Yes, that is my 
opinion." Lady. — " And do you expect to go there yourseV V 
Mr. A. — " Yes ; I expect to go there for a time." Lady. — " Ah, 
man ! ye talk strangely ; ye're a guid man, and a minister, I 
wad think ye could na gae there. But what will ye gae there 
for V Mr. A. — " I expect to go there for preaching against the 
truth." Lady, — " Ah, man ! that's an unco' bad cause. And hoo 
long d'ye expect to stay there ?" Mr. A. — " Just as long as I 
preached against the truth." Lady. — " And hoo long was that ?" 
Mr. A. — " About fifteen years." Lady. — " Ye'd be a pretty singed 
deevil to come oot, after being in sae lang /" 

The successor of Mr. Archibald was Alexander Caldwell, the 
son of the venerable David Caldwell, who was ordained in 1773. 
The cause of his leaving the ministiy of these churches is given 
in the sketch of Rocky River. 

Mr. McCorkle, of Thyatira, supplied Poplar Tent for a year 



POPLAR TENT. 445 

after Mr. Caldwell's disease rendered him unable to preach, 
appropriating one Sabbath in four to the instructions of the sanc- 
tuary in this congregation. 

After a short period Poplar Tent secured the services of Mr. 
John Robinson, and, notwithstanding some intervals of absence, 
enjoyed his services for thirty-six years — which were ended by his 
death, December 15th, 1843. 

The parents of Mr, John Robinson lived in Sugar Creek con- 
gregation, and their graves are found near the centre of the old 
graveyard. They were reputed eminently pious by their neigh- 
bors, and were devoted members of the Church. Their careful 
training of their son in tlie nurture and admonition of the Lord, 
and their concern for his salvation, were often spoken of by him 
with gratitude and reverence ; and the recollection made him more 
earnest for the salvation of his own household. 

Born January 8th, 1768, and reared in the neighborhood of 
Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, Mr. Robinson was old enough to 
be a witness of the scenes and a partaker in the troubles and 
alarms of the Revolutionary war. Too young to engage in the 
battles, his youthful memory received a vivid impression of the 
events of those trying days : and in his age he recounted with 
spirit the things he had seen and heard when a child. The cor- 
rectness of his memory and the facility of his recollection, espe- 
cially where dates were concerned, was remarkable. He trusted 
memory, and she was faithful to "him to the last, bringing out her 
stores at his call with unabated celerity and precision. 

This, his remarkable quality, was of immense importance to 
him in his active, laborious, and varied avocations : but it well- 
nigh prevented posterity from being the wiser for his knowledge, 
as he committed little to paper in any period of his life, and left 
nothing behind of importance in the manuscript form. Having 
been requested, a little before his final departure, — when, in fact, 
the symptoms began to appear, — to commit his experience and re- 
collections to paper, for the use of those that might live after him, 
he declined the attempt, on account of his infirmity, but cheerfully 
agreed to dictate to a ministerial friend on any subject concerning 
which he possessed information. To some extent this was done ; 
and his dates and information were put to the trial of close examina- 
tion. Not an important fact was changed, upon an extended in- 
quiry ; and very few minor statements required any modification 
or explanation. Preparations had been made to pursue the copying 
from his lips on some important subjects, and the time fixed. The 



446 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

amanuensis arrived at the appointed time, — but it was to sit by 
his corpse, and attend his funerah It is but proper to state, that 
the traditions gathered from him led to the compilation of the facts 
given to the public in the present volume. And in no case have 
his statements been discredited by any official documents that have 
come to the possession or inspection of the writer. 

His academic education was received partly in Charlotte, under 
the tuition of Dr. Henderson, who taught in the College-buildings, 
and partly in an academy taught by Mr. Archibald, of Poplar 
Tent. 

In recounting the scenes of his youth, he renewed his age ; and 
with vivacity and delight, described the times and circumstances 
when the boys gathered with enthusiasm around the soldiers, 
rendezvousing at Charlotte, where he saw that remarkable man, 
James Hall, march through the town with his three-cornered hat, 
and long sword, captain of a company, and chaplain to the regi- 
ment. 

His classical course was completed, and his degi-ee of A.B. 
conferred at Winnsboro', South Carolina, the seat of Mount Zion 
College, the flourishing institution that succeeded the College, 
whose operations were suspended during the invasion of Charlotte. 
In the various institutions which he attended, he must have been 
well taught, as throughout his life his correct knowledge of the 
classics was remarked and appreciated. 

His title of D.D. was conferred by the University of his native 
State, as a just tribute of respect to one who had done much for 
the moral and religious education of the rising generation. 

The time of his making a profession of religion is not known ; 
neither are the peculiar exercises of mind, which preceded that 
event. But his good hope in Christ never deserted him ; and his 
determination to devote his life to the ministry of the gospel was 
unshaken ; and he was licensed by the Presbytery of Orange, 
April 4th, 1793, to preach the everlasting gospel. 

Firm in his purpose, dignified in his deportment, courteous in 
his manners, commanding in his appearance, above the common 
stature, and perfectly erect, of a spare, muscular frame, of great 
activity and personal courage, he went to preach the gospel of our 
Lord, at the time when the flood of infidelity, that swept over our 
land, tried men's souls. In Carolina and in Virginia, God in 
mercy poured out his spirit on his church in precious revivals, 
just before that deluge of sin and wrath came, and raised up a 
goodly number of young men of undaunted spirit, who counted not 



POPLAR TENT. 447 

their life dear unto them might they win Christ's approbation, and 
be found to praise and glory in the great day. Of that noble com- 
pany, few now remain ; few in Carolina, and but few in Virginia, — 
yet still some are moving on the horizon of life, waiting in feeble- 
ness of body, and the humility of faith, for their Lord's summons. 

The field assigned him by his Presbytery, for his first essay in 
the ministry, was the ground occupied first by McAdcn. Under 
his ministry, the churches, which had been without a settled pastor 
for a long time, receiving only the occasional services of missiona- 
ries, were giveatly revived and much enlarged. The children of 
pious parents were confirmed in the faith they had been taught, 
and " the word of God grew." The climate proving unfavorable 
to his family, he determined upon removing higher up the country, 
and in the year 1800, accepted an invitation from the church in 
Fayetteville, to become their resident minister. 

The smallness of the salary, and the necessities of the youth, 
induced him to open a classical school. He continued with the 
congregation a little more than a year ; when finding that the 
labors of the two offices were more than his constitution could 
bear, he left the congregation in Dec, 1801, and removed to Pop- 
lar Tent, the scene of part of the instructions of his early life 
under Mr. Archibald. 

After remaining with the congregation of Poplar Tent about four 
years, preaching and conducting a classical school, which was com- 
mended by the Presbytery in 1803, as appears by their records, he 
was induced by the earnest solicitation of the citizens of Fayette- 
ville, to return to that place, then vacant by the removal of his suc- 
cessor. Rev. Andrew Flinn, to Charleston, South Carolina; and 
about the commencement of the year 1806, he removed to that place 
and re-commenced his pastoral labors and his classical school. In 
these two offices he continued about three years ; and in the latter 
part of December, 1818, returned to Poplar Tent, and passed the 
remainder of his days. During the two periods of his sojourn in 
Fayetteville, he was eminently successful both as a teacher and as a 
preacher. The first administration of the sacrament of the Lord's 
supper, in Fayetteville, was performed by him on the 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1801. At that time there were but seventeen members of 
the church in that place. He held four communion seasons during 
his first residence there, and at each time admitted persons to mem- 
bership in the church. During his second residence, he was exten- 
sively useful and greatly beloved. During this period, his preach- 
ing is described as " instructive, edifying, and truly evangelical ; 



44S SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

his eloquence was of a gentle and persuasive cast ; and in his pub- 
lic discourses, and in his private intercQurse with his people, he 
was remarkable for the mildness of his address." Some even 
thought his mildness carried to excess in the matter of discipline ; 
as his benevolent heart was finding excuses for mild dealing with 
offenders. Says the author of a sermon preached on occasion of 
his death, " the fruits of his labors are yet visible there, and ac- 
knowledged with gratitude, by many witnesses. We have never 
seen any man move through society, receiving more striking tokens 
of veneration and affection, than we have witnessed shown to Dr. 
Robinson in that town." The news of his death having reached 
that place, a public meeting was held in the town-house on the 23d 
of December, 1843, and the following preamble and resolutions 
passed. " Whereas, it is announced in some of the public prints, 
that it has pleased the Allwise Disposer of all events, to call away 
from this sinful and suffering world, our venerable friend, the Rev. 
John Robinson, D.D., the present meeting, consisting of persons to 
whom he has been long endeared by ties of a most interesting cha- 
racter, desire, with the utmost sincerity, to give expression to the 
sentiments which they entertain in the following resolutions, viz. : 

1st. Resolved, That in our estimation, the death of such a man as 
the late Rev. John Robinson, D.D., is an event justly to be deplored, 
as a serious loss to a community, who have, for many years, been 
permitted to enjoy the rich benefits of his wholesome instruction, and 
godly and edifying example. 

2d. Resolved, That his public services in this place, many years 
ago, as a minister of the gospel, and an instructor of the rising 
generation, shall long be remembered with emotions of gratitude 
and affection. 

3d. Resolved^ That David Anderson, Dr. B. Robinson, J. W. 
Wright, C. P. Mallett, and E. L. Winslow, be a committee to devise 
suitable means for the erection of such memorial of his character 
and labors as may perpetuate the memory of his worth, and of his 
labors for the good of immortal souls. 

4th. Resolved, That these resolutions be published, and a copy 
of them forwarded to the family of the deceased. 

" DAvm Anderson, Chairman, 
" John McRae, Secretary." 

These resolutions, called out by his death some thirty-five years 
after his services in Fayetteville, show conclusively the stability of 
the population in that congregation, and the deep impression his 



POPLAR TENT. 449 

labors made upon the public mind during the years he was pastor 
and teacher in that community. 

His labors in Poplar Tent were much blessed. The congregation 
enjoyed repeated refreshings from on high, under his ministry, 
beside that great and general awakening which pervaded the coun- 
try at large from the years 1802 onward for five or six years, a 
part of which time he resided at Fayetteville, and part at Poplar 
Tent. A Revival, or refreshing from the Lord, was cause of joy- 
fulness to him, wherever, and whenever it came; he would labor; 
with his favored brethren, and receive most kindly their assistance 
when his part of the vineyard was blessed. 

Desirous of excellence himself, panting after it, he scorned the 
arts of detraction, and held sacreil the reputation of good men, most 
particularly his brethren in the ministry, rejoicing in their prosperity 
and good name, and extended usefulness and popularity. He never 
seemed to feel that the advancement of others was any hindrance to 
his own progression in excellence or usefulness. 

A clear and faithful exhibition of the doctrines of grace charac- 
terized his pulpit ministrations. Generally persuasive, but when 
aroused by the importance of the subject, he became commanding 
and overpowering. His dignified person became majestic, and his 
warm heart kindled to a flame, that warmed and kindled the con- 
gregation. The character, love, sufferings and death of Jesus Christ 
were favorite subjects, and lost none of their exhaustless interest 
with him or his congregation. 

As he advanced in years, his manners, always courteous, became 
more dignified and bland ; a stranger would have thought he had 
adorned the drawing-rooms of our cities in the beginning of the 
19th century, a gentleman of the old school of Nathaniel Macon. 
His kind manners expressed a kinder heart, that grew more tender 
as he advanced in years. It was impossible that a yoimg minister 
should be introduced to him without loving him ; or love him long 
without reverencing him and catching from him a spirit to desire 
excellence for its own sake and for Christ. 

A guileless affectionate simplicity attracted all to him in his ad- 
vancing infirmities ; and his departure seemed less and less welcome 
to his people the nearer and more certain its approach. His habits 
of neatness in his person and dress continued through life. He had 
so fixed the habit of dressing himself becomingly that very seldom 
was he found unprepared to welcome a visitor ; and yet the greatest 
simplicity always appeared in his garments and the manner in which 
he was attired. It is said of him in his more active days, as a plea- 
29 



450 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

sant example of his attention to his family, that returning from a 
judicatory of the church, he lodged about seventeen miles from home. 
Rising at the dawn of day to reach home for his breakfast, he was 
observed to be particular in adjusting his dress, and under some dis- 
advantage to be shaving himself with care ; one of his fellow- 
lodgers observed, " you need not delay to be so particular, as you 
are only going home ;" with a polite bow the Dr. replied, " for 
that very reason I am particular." 

For many years Dr. Robinson carried on a classical school in Poplar 
Tent, at which were trained many of the leading men of the present 
generation in and around Poplar Tent. It may be said to have been 
in its glory after Dr. Wilson, of Rocky River, found it necessary to 
decline teaching, and Dr. Robinson found it necessary to provide 
a place of instruction for the youth of the surrounding country. 
The dignity, precision and kindness wnth which he presided 
over his school are referred to with much affection by his pupils. 
A teacher himself, he favored every attempt to promote sacred learn- 
ing ; and when about the year 1820 an effort was made to establish 
a college in Western Carolina, he took an active part in the enter- 
prise, and mourned over its failure. When Davidson College was 
instituted he took a prominent part ; and was President of the Board 
for many years. 

A pleasant anecdote of the Dr.'s personal courage is told by Dr. 
Morrison, of his early life. Wliile residing in Duplin he had occa- 
sion to travel to Presbytery alone. Stopping in a little village for 
refreshment, at what appeared the most respectable tavern, it was 
promised him. While w^aiting for it a company assembled around 
the bar, and began using profane language. Mr. Robinson remark- 
ed very politely that such language was very painful to him, 
as he thought it wrong. After a short pause the drinking and 
profanity were renewed with more indecency than before, the land- 
lord taking a conspicuous part. Mr. Robinson appealed to him, as 
the keeper of the house at which he had called, expecting civil treat- 
ment, and to the honor of his house as the stranger's safeguard from 
insult. With increased profanity, and in a violent rage, the land- 
lord rushed towards him with his clenched fist, swearing that " the 
house was his own, and his tongue was his own, and he would do 
as he pleased." Mr. Robinson arose and stretched himself to his full 
height, and fastening a stern look upon him, replied, " your house 
may be your own ; — and your tongue is your own ; — but take care how 
you use your fist." The landlord cowered and asked pardon for his 
insult ; the crowd shrunk away ; and after obtaining his refresh- 



POPLAR TENT. 451 

raent the Dr. went on his way, earnestly entreated by the landlord 
not to expose his impropriety to the disgrace and injury of his 
tavern. 

Another, illustrating the Dr.'s manner in his intercourse with his 
fellow men. While residing in Duplin, a gentleman who had been 
educated in Scotland, but had his residence in that county, invited 
him to go home with him. The evening passed pleasantly; the 
gentleman was fluent in discussing the discipline of the church, the 
confession of doctrines, the Solemn League and Covenant. At supper, 
the gentleman politely requested Mr. Robinson to ask a blessing ; 
and before retiring to rest assembled his family for worship. The 
next morning the family again met for worship ; as they were 
standing around the breakfast table Mr. Robinson in his graceful 
manner referred to the gentleman to ask the blessing. He com- 
menced, and after pronouncing a few w^ords became discomposed, 
and turning to Mr. Robinson said, " Will you please finish, sir." 
After breakfast, he, deeply affected, addressed Mr. Robinson, " You 
now see what I have come to. I was born of pious parents ; taught 
religion in ray youth, and observed its forms in my native country ; 
but here, sir, I have neglected its duties ; and now cannot even ask 
God to bless the food of my own table." After suitable discourse 
Mr. Robinson left him ; the impression remained upon his mind, 
giving him no rest till, as he hoped, he was led to Christ in true 
conversion. He became a member of the church, and as far as 
known, lived consistently with its' obligations. 

His infirmities rendering it impossible for him to perform the 
duties of his office in his extensive charge, his congregation reluc- 
tantly received his resignation, in order to look out for a pastor, the 
Dr. declining any official connection with the church, or any man- 
agement of its affairs. He continued to preach occasionally for his 
brethren, with whom his visits were always delightful, till his 
asthmatic cough confined him to his house. 

He never possessed any great fondness for the pen, and had no 
manuscripts to review in his old age. His infirmities prevented 
him from reading to any extent ; and he was deprived of his excel- 
lent wife, Mary Baldwin, the mother of his children, in 1836, hav- 
ing lived in affection with her for more than forty years, having 
been united in marriage to her April 9th, 1795 ; and yet he never 
appeared lonesome or repining while he was waiting upon God for 
his departure. 

Having desired, for some years before his death, to enjoy a meet- 
ing of the North Carohna Synod at Poplar Tent, the brethren held 



452 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

their sessions in October, 1842, at that church, and near his dwel- 
ling. Under the influence of a more than usually severe attack of 
his cough, he was unable to attend a single session of the Synod, 
being confined to his room, and mostly to his bed. The Synod sent 
a committee with resolutions of condolence and respect, to express 
their sympathy with their venerable brother, who, through a long 
period of years, was never known to be absent from a judicatory of 
the church of which he was a member, in this respect rivalling the 
venerable Dr. Hall of Iredell, who attended all the sessions of the 
Synod of the Carolinas but one. The compliment was unexpected 
by the Dr., and deeply affected him. With unpretended humility 
and kindness he wept when the committee read to him the resolu- 
tions of Synod ; overcome with varied emotions, his readiness at 
reply forsook him. The sighs that for a few moments shook his 
frame, touched the hearts of the committee as they stood around his 
bed ; and they wept with him ; and sighed as they beheld the 
wreck of human strength and excellence. A leader was departing, 
not in a chariot of fire, but in the exercise of an humble faith. 

His life was protracted in great feebleness till the fourteenth of 
December, 1843, when he fell asleep in Christ. His body was laid 
beside the remains of his wife, in the burying ground near Poplar 
Tent church, and amidst his hearers, with whom he will rise at the 
coming of Christ. 

In looking over the inscriptions upon the graves around their 
pastor, you find the names of many of the first settlers, such as 
Harris, Alexander, Black, Parks, Young, Weddington, Flinn, Ross, 
Means, Crawford, and Gilmer. One can but feel regret that the 
graves of the Rev. Hezekiah James Balch, and his spirited elder, 
David Reese, cannot be pointed out ; men that represented this con- 
gregation in the convention. Their names wmII never pass from 
the records of history ; but a visit to their tombs might be useful 
to coming generations, and the future worshippers in Poplar Tent 
might be excited to deeds worthy of their ancestors, by a visit to 
this yard. They ought to dwell upon the past to be prepared to 
act worthy of the present and the future. 

When Mr. Robinson taught in Fayetteville, he had an assistant, 
William B. Maroney. This man had been very thoughtless and 
wild, and opposed to religious things. His own excesses were 
made the cause of his alarm and awakening. After indulging a 
hope in Christ, he wished to preach the gospel. In his forty-third 
year, 1803, his case was laid before Synod. He ultimately was ad- 



POPLAR TENT. 453 

raitted to the ministry, and labored faithfully and successfully in 
Bethesda. His monument has this short epitaph : — 

Rev. William B. Maroney, 

late minister of the gospel 

at this place, 

was born A.D., 1760, 

Died August 1st, 1816. 

He is reported as ordained in 1811 ; the time of his licensure is 
not known, the records of Orange having been lost by fire. 



454 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



EXTRACTS FROM RECORDS OF TH^ SYNOD OF THE CAROLINAS 
FROM 1802 TO 1812. 

SESSION XV. 

Bethany Church, Oct. 9th, 1802. 

Synod was opened by Rev. Leonard Prather, with a sermon from 
Amos iv., 12th, and Rev. WilHam C. Davis was chosen modera- 
tor. The Presbytery of Orange reported they had received the 
Rev. Leonard Prather from the Methodist Church, and that they 
had suspended the Rev. M. Thompson : Presbytery of Concord, 
that they had dismissed Rev. John Andrews to the Presbytery of 
West Lexington. Mr. John Matthews, missionary to the Natches, 
and Mr. Thomas Hall, missionary in the Carolinas and Georgia, 
read reports of their missionary labors, and for their diligence re- 
ceived the thanks of Synod. The Synod (after an interval of 
some years) appointed a Commission of Synod to attend to the 
missionary business, and appointed Hugh Shaw, licentiate of 
Orange, a missionary to the Natches ; and as Mr. Matthews ex- 
pressed a desire to return, a commission was ordered for him. The 
Presbytery of Orange was directed also to ordain him for the mis- 
sion, should he go. 

The case from Sinking Spring, Greenville Presbyteiy, came up 
again, and after long investigation, was put over till next session ; 
it was an intricate but entirely local matter. " This Synod enjoin 
it on each Presbytery of which it is composed, to establish within 
its respective bounds, one or more grammar schools, except where 
such schools are already established ; and that each member of 
the several Presbyteries make it their business to select and en- 
courage youths of promising piety and talents, and such as may 
be expected to turn their attention to the ministry of the gospel." 

" Overtured : Whether it be proper for this Synod to confer on 
any one who -may be well recommended, a written and formal 
permission to act in the character of an exhorter ? Synod judged 
it would be improper, as our book of discipline does not authorize 
Synod to grant such permission." 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 455 

The Presbytery of Abingdon petitioned Synod to give their con- 
sent to an application to the next General Assembly, to annex said 
Presbytery to the Synod of Virginia. " Resolved, that the prayer 
of said overture be granted ;" in consideration of the difficulties 
in attending Synod. " As Dr. McCorkle, from a growing indis- 
position of body, is incapable of transcribing our records with 
conveniency, ordered that the Rev. John Brown be appointed, and 
he hereby is appointed, the stated clerk of this Synod." 

SESSION XVI. 

Buffalo Church, Oct. 6th, 1803. 

Synod was opened by Rev. James Hall with a sermon from 
John vi., 27, and Mr. Jolui Robinson was chosen moderator. 
The Presbytery of Orange have added by ordination Daniel 
Brown, Andrew Flinn, Malcolm McNair, Ezekiel B. Currie, and 
John Matthews ; and the Presbytery of Hopewell, Edward Pharr. 

The commission of Synod reported that they had commissioned 
eight missionaries within the bounds of Synod, one of whom, 
Wm. C. Davis, was to visit the Catawba Indians. Reports were 
heard from part of these missionaries. " Ordered that the Rev. 
Wm. C. Davis act as a stated missionary to the Catawba Indians 
until our next stated session of Synod ; that he superintend tlic 
school in that nation, now taught by Mr. Foster, and that he ol)tain 
the assistance of Rev. James Wallis as far as may be convenient. 
Ordered, that the several Presbyteries under our care be directed 
to pay particular attention to the subscription business for the sup- 
port of the missionaries, especially as we now have promising 
prospect of teaching the Catawba Indians to read and pay some 
attention to the gospel. 

" A petition from the Presbytery of Hopewell was handed in 
and read, praying the direction of Synod in the case of John 
Forbes, who made application to that Presbytery to be received as 
a candidate for the gospel ministry. The Synod advise the Pres- 
bytery of Hopewell to direct their conduct towards Mr. Forbes 
agreeably to the directions of the book of discipline ; and recom- 
mend to the Presbytery of Orange to act in the same manner to- 
wards Mt. Bloodwoith and Mr. Maroney, in behalf of whom they 
made similar applications." 



456 



SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



SESSION XVII. 



Bullock's Creek church, Oct. 4th, 1804. 

Synod was opened by Rev. Samuel Caldwell by a sermon from 
Proverbs xiv., 12, and Rev, Humphrey Hunter was chosen 
moderator. 

The First Presbytery of South Carolina report Duncan Brown 
and John Couser, added by ordination ; the Second Presbytery, 
James Gilleland, jr. ; the First Presbytery of South Carolina re- 
ported the death of David E, Dunlap ; and the Second Presbytery 
of South Carolina, the dismission of Francis Cummins to Hope- 
well Presbytery. 

By request of members the Presbytery of Greenville was dis- 
solved ; and the Rev, George Newton and Samuel Davies were 
directed to apply to the Presbytery of Concord for admission ; 
Hezekiah Balch and John Cossan, to the Presbytery of Union ; 
and Stephen Bovelle to the Presbytery of West Lexington, in Ken- 
tucky, or any other Presbyteiy in whose bounds his lot might fall. 

A commission of Synod was appointed for this year, to 
attend to whatever missionary business is left unfinished by 
Synod. Rev. Daniel Brown and Malcolm McNair were appointed 
missionaries to the Natches for six months or more ; and Mr. Mur- 
phy, licentiate, was appointed for the lower part of South Carolina. 

" Overlured — Is it consistent with the government of the Pres- 
byterian church to admit other denominations, as churches, to com- 
mune with us, and to receive their preachers without distinction as 
ministers of the Gospel ?" " Answered in the negative ; except 
through the General Assembly." 

" Overtured — Is a minister's regular acceptance of a call from a 
congregation absolutely necessary to constitute him the regular pas- 
tor of that congregation ?" " Answered in the affirmative." 

" Overtured — How is a fellow Presbyter who preaches these 
disorganizing doctrines, viz. : that forms of religion ought for the 
most part to be dispensed with ; that tokens are unnecessary ; and 
that it makes no difference whether a man is regularly licensed by 
any judicatory, and invites such to preach in his pulpit — to be dealt 
with by his brethren in the ministry?" " Answer — Synod direct 
our members to our form of government and discipline of our 
church. The Synod also express their disapprobation of those 
things alluded to in the overture ; and declare their strict adherence 
to the Confession of Faith and Discipline of our Church ; and 
earnestly recommend to all their members, the propriety, andabso- 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 457 

lute necessity, of supporting, so far as their influence may extend, 
the Confession of Faith and Disciphne of our Church." 

SESSION XVIII. 

Bethesda church, Oct. 3d, 1805. 

Synod was opened by Rev. John M. Wilson with a sermon 
from Deut. xxxii., 29, and Rev. James Wallis was chosen modera- 
tor. The first Presbytery of South Carolina reported Murdock 
Murphy as ordained ; the second Presbytery of South Carolina 
reported Benjamin R. Montgomery, and that they had dismissed 
Robert Wilson, William Williamson, and James Gilleland, sen., 
to settle in the State of Ohio ; the Presbytery of Concord re- 
ported the death of Lewis F. Wilson. 

The commission appointed last year laid before Synod the mi- 
nutes and the reports of missionaries. From this it appeared that 
the school among the Catawbas had been continued at considera- 
ble expense ; at first the Indians were much interested in the 
instructions and exhortations of the teacher, but after a while grew 
weary ; that there had been but little preaching among them. 
The prospect not flattering. Mr. Smylie made a favorable report 
of his mission to the Mississippi territory, and presented a letter 
from a congregation addressed to Synod, asking for further 
aid. 

A commission of Synod was appointed to attend to the mission- 
ary concerns of the Synod, to hold their first meeting in New 
Providence, the first Tuesday of November next. 

Rev. Samuel C. Caldwell was directed to write to the Presby- 
teries of Orange and Union on the subject of their not being re- 
presented in Synod for some time ; the Presbytery of Orange 
since 1802, and the Presbytery of Union since 1799. 

Synod being informed that certain persons within their bounds 
had petitioned the Assembly to receive them into connection by 
the name of the Presbytery of Chai-Jeston, without being in con- 
nection with the Synod of the Carolinas, proceeded to draw up a 
remonstrance to the Assembly against their being received in such 
circumstances, as unconstitutional, and reflecting on the Synod. 

SESSION XIX. 

Olney, October 2, 1806. 
Synod was opened by Rev. Humphrey Hunter, with a sermon 



458 SKETCHES of north CAROLINA. 

from 2 Tim. iii., 16 ; and Rev. James Stephenson chosen mode- 
rator. The First Presbytery of South Carolina reported George 
Reid ; Orange, James Smyhe, as a missionary to the Natches. 

The Overture handed in last session respecting a stated clerk, 
was taken up, and after consideration, " the Synod determined to 
adopt the measure proposed ; on which the Rev. John B. Davies 
was chosen to act as stated clerk for Synod. He was directed to 
transcribe the minutes of our preceding session in a proper book, 
for which service the Synod determined to allow him the sum of 
three dollars for each annual session, and the sum of ten dollars 
yearly from the present term for performing the services specified 
in the above mentioned overture." (In consequence of this order 
Mr. Davies transcribed the minutes of the preceding sessions in a 
large folio, and continued to be the clerk of Synod while it existed. 
The records, in his handwriting from 1788 to 1813, the time the 
Synod of the Carolinas existed, cover 422 folio pages, were cor- 
rectly kept, and written in an uncommonly plain hand.) 

Overtured, — That Synod petition the Assembly for a division 
to form two Synods, one to be known by the name of North Ca- 
rolina and the other South Carolina. 



The commission of Synod reported that they had done noth 



ms 



o ' 



a part of them had received a report of a missionary that should 
have been presented to the preceding Synod. 

The Synod appointed three missionaries. Dr. James Hall, Wm. 
H. Barr, a licentiate of Orange, and Mr. Thomas J. Hall, to itine- 
rate within their bounds. 

A letter was addressed to the Presbyteries urging a fuller attend- 
ance on Synod, accompanied by a resolution to call absentees to a 
strict account ; and that a letter of citation be addressed to them. 
Instances were given of great punctuality, such as being present 
at twenty meetings of Synod out of twenty-one (Dr. James Hall 
is the person referred to, who commenced attending the Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia). 

" Overtured, — That this Synod give their opinion respecting the 
propriety of ministers of the gospel accepting and holding civil 
offices, which divert their attention from their ministerial duty, and 
bring reproach on the sacred ministry ; and as this Synod do highly 
disapprove of such conduct, Resolved, That those Presbyteries 
where such instances arc to be found, adopt the most etfectual 
measures to induce such ministers to lay aside such offices, and 
devote themselves wholly to their ministerial duties. And if the 
Presbyteries should meet with any difficulties in dealing with such 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 459 

members, they are required to apply to the General \ssembly for 
instructions in such case." 

" i^e.so/i'RfZ, That Synod publish 1000 copies of the following 
pamphlets, viz. : the Rev. John Andrews's pamphlet, entitled A 
Brief Essay on Natural and Moral Inability, and two pamphlets 
written by the Rev. John P. Campbell in reply to Mr. Stone." 

SESSION XX. 

Rocky River, Oct. 1st, 1807. 

Synod was opened by Rev. James W. Stephenson with a ser- 
mon from Micah ii., 3, last clause ; and Moses Waddel was chosen 
moderator. Added to Presbytery of Concord, Thomas J. Hall 
and Andrew S. Morrison ; second Presbytery of South Carolina, 
Daniel Gray ; Presbytery of Union, Isaac Anderson, Charles 
Coffin, Matthew Donnell, and Joseph D. Lapsley. 

A memorial from the Second Presbytery of South Carolina was 
read, complaining that the First Presbytery of South Carolina 
does not discipline a member of theirs, Wm. C. Davis, for 
preaching erroneous doctrine, though known by Presbytery to 
hold and preach such doctrine. " To give a complete list of the 
doctrines we have in view, even as far as they are known to us, 
we think would be quite unnecessary in this communication. It 
may, however, be proper to mention, that Mr. Davis affirms and 
industriously propagates, that what has been termed the passive 
obedience of Christ is all that the law of God can, or does require, 
in order to the justification of the believer ; and that his active 
obedience is not imputed. He also affirms and teaches that faith 
precedes regeneration, and is not a holy exercise, nor has any- 
thing holy in its nature. * * * * Now, although neither we nor 
the Presbytery to which he belongs can prevent Mr. Davis from 
believing whatever he may think proper, yet we deem it somewhat 
more than indecorous that any member in our communion sliould 
be allowed intentionally to teach doctrines manifestly contrary to 
that system we are supposed to believe and preach." 

Synod after consideration directed the First Presbytery of South 
Carolina to attend to this matter " as duty and discipline may 
direct." 

The Presbytery of Union applied for leave to apply to the Gene- 
ral Assembly to be connected with the Synod of Virginia : Synod, 
satisfied that the Presbytery were unanimous in the application, 
granted the request. 



460 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Dr. Hall made report of his missionary services ; also Mr. Thos. 
Hall, and Mr. William H. Barr. Their reports were entered on 
record, exhibiting great industry and much labor. A committee 
of missions was appointed for the ensuing year, of whom Dr. Hall 
was to be moderator, to hold their first meeting at Steele Creek 
church on the third Wednesday of November. 

" Ordered, that the Synod send up to the General Assembly the 
following question : — Whether elders from vacant congregations 
have the same constitutional right to a seat in Synod which they 
have in Presbytery ?" 

The missionaries this year refer to a state of things in their 
route, which had called the attention of the missionaries in former 
years, and is perhaps best expressed in the report of Dr. Hall for 
this year : — " Approaching the low country (in South Carolina), 
the professors of religion became less, and the bigoted attachment 
to party doctrines appeared to be stronger. These doctrines, which 
they call their prijiciples, are so frequently brought into the pulpit, 
that sometimes a private member of one of those denominations, 
when he goes to hear a preacher of the other, expecting what will 
come forward, has his scriptural notes prepared, and reads them 
against the doctrines delivered : on which issue is joined, and the 
doctrines are debated in the presence of the congregation. From 
these, and other circumstances, it appears that few attend on the 
preaching of the gospel except the bigoted adherents to their 
respective parties." 

SESSION XXI. 

Sugaio Creek church, Oct. 6th, 1808. 

Synod was opened by Rev. Benjamin R. Montgomery, with a 
sermon on Heb. ii., 3, first clause ; and the Rev. John M. Wil- 
son was chosen moderator. Presbytery of Orange report W. L. 
Turner from Virginia, and James K. Burch ; and that they had 
suspended Leonard Prather from the office of minister of the 
gospel. The Second Presbytery of South Carolina reported, 
" lost by death, Rev. John Simpson, and Dr. Thomas Williamson, 
a licentiate." 

The commission of Synod reported, that they had met and ap- 
pointed Dr. Hall, Rev. E. B. Currie, and Mr. Wm. H. Barr, 
missionaries in their bounds during part of the past year. The 
missionaries were called on ; Mr. Currie had not received a com- 
mission. The others read long and interesting reports, of one of 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 461 

which the Synod made the following minute, viz. — " The Rev. 
Dr. Hall read a report, in which he gave a particular account of 
the state of that part of the country where he travelled, and stated 
that he thought it would be more advisable to cherish our own 
vacancies, than to attempt to establish new societies in these bounds ; 
and particularly recommended vigorous exertions on the part of 
Synod, to encourage the education of young men for the gospel 
ministry. He further stated, that he travelled, during his 
mission, 1132 miles, and preached forty limes, and received 
$64,68." Mr. Barr united with Dr. Hall, respecting the change 
of missionary action from the itinerant, to the supplying our 
vacancies with more regular preaching. The Synod passed a 
vote of thanks to both these laborious men. In urging the cause 
of education, Dr. Hall says — " Otherwise, our churches, if any 
should remain, must be supplied with ignorant and illiterate 
preachers, or they must receive foreigners, which past experience 
has for the most part shown not to be very eligible ; as we may 
expect little besides the dregs of European churches. Should 
none of these be the case, our people must sink into ignorance and 
barbarism, and stand exposed to every erroneous wind of doctrine," 
Mr. Barr appears to have been a most devoted missionary. 

A commission of Synod was appointed, " to regulate the whole 
of the missionary business, to meet the first Wednesday of 
November, at Unity Church, Indian, Lands, of which Dr. Hall was 
appointed moderator." 

The First Presbytery of South Carolina being called on to report 
their doings respecting Rev. W. C. Davis, on the complaint handed 
in to last Synod, reported that after hearing Mr. Davis's explana- 
tions they had not done anything ; and put the following question, 
viz. : " Whether the holding and propagating any, and what 
doctrines, apparently repugnant to the letter of the confession of 
faith, will justify a Presbytery in calling a member to public 
trial ?" The Synod, not satisfied with this report, appointed a 
committee consisting of Rev. James Hall and General Andrew 
Pickens, of Second Presbytery, South Carohna, to propose a 
minute to direct the Presbytery in its future proceedings. This 
committee brought in a minute which was amended and adopted, 
of which the following is all that is important, viz. : " Resolved, 
that the Second Presbytery of South Carolina be directed to meet 
immediately on this ground, and if they have any charges to state 
against Mr. Davis, that they be immediately exhibited according 
to the discipline of our church, before the First Presbytery of 



462 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Soulli Carolina, together ^Yith tlie names of the witnesses, should 
they deem it necessary to call witnesses in the case. And that 
the foregoing purposes may be answered, the First Presbytery of 
South Carolina is directed to constitute immediately to receive 
such charge as the Second Presbytery may think dutiful to lay 
before them : and to furnish Mr. Davis with a copy of the charge, 
together with the names of the witnesses. That the Synod direct 
the moderator of the First Presbytery of South Carolina to call an 
occasional meeting on the third Wednesday of November next, to 
confer with Mr. Davis on the doctrines specified in the memorial 
of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina, and such other doc- 
trmes as may be thought by them advisable. And that they take 
a record of all the questions put to Mr. Davis, particularly relative 
to these matters, together with his answers, that all concerned may 
have the fullest information and satisfaction that the nature of the 
case allows." 

Overture. — " Should the qualifications of parents offering their 
children for baptism be the same as woidd entitle them to the 
Lord's Supper ? Answered in the affirmative." 

" The committee appointed to draught a minute on the subject of 
intercourse and communion with the Methodist church, introduced 
one which was amended and adopted, and is as follows, viz. : 
' Whereas, the Methodist church embraces doctrines that we are 
far from considering orthodox, and as they are in the habit of 
insinuating that Presbyterian ministers are mercenary in their 
callino-, — of speaking disrespectfully of our church, and endeavor- 
ing to withdraw members from our connnunion ; therefore, to 
avoid all feuds, animosities and contentions with that people, the 
Synod recommend that all unnecessary intercourse with them be 
avoided, — that our brethren in the ministry be careful to teach all 
the doctrines of our holy religion as contained in our Confession 
of Faith and Catechism ; and at particular times, when prudence 
and duty may direct, to explain and establish those doctrines, 
which we believe the church alluded to has misunderstood, if not 
perverted." 

" The Synod do highly disapprove of holding communion with 
the Methodist church, as a church ; but in certain cases occasional 
communion may be permitted. And we recommend that in those 
cases in which communion may be requested, that our ministers 
deal with such applicants, as with those who may make application 
for the first time, within our church. We also recommend that 
members of our own church, who, without the approbation of the 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 463 

session, invite Methodist preachers to preach in our congregations, 
and who assiduously endeavor to gain proselytes to the Methodist 
church, be dealt with by their respective sessions as disorderly." 

"And we finally recommend that the several Presbyteries under 
our care be particularly careful to furnish their vacancies with the 
means of information upon the peculiar doctrines of our holy reli- 
gion, by disseminating amongst them catechisms, and other ortho- 
dox books, and by frequently granting them such supplies as may 
be in their power." 

" The following dissent was tabled, viz. : We, whose names 
are underwritten, beg leave to dissent from the decision of Synod 
on the above case, for the following reason ; that the Methodist 
Church is alone implicated, when it is known that the ministers of 
other denominations have made impositions on congregations be- 
longing to our church ; and request that this our dissent be entered 
on the minutes of Synod." 

James Hall, 

J. D. KiLPATRlCK. 
SESSION XXII, 

Poplar Tent, Oct. 5th, 1809. 

Synod was opened by Rev. John M. Wilson, with a sermon 
from Acts xx., 24 ; and the Rev. Robert B. Walker was chosen 
moderator. The Presbytery of Ordnge reported John Mclntyre, 
and that the suspension had been removed from Leonard Prather ; 
the first Presbytery, South Carolina, reported the death of Joseph 
Alexander, D.D. 

At the close of the last session, provision was made for the 
calling an extraordinary meeting ; the moderator of the last ses- 
sion informed Synod that he had directed the moderators of the 
several Presbyteries to issue citations to their respective members, 
to attend at Steele Creek on the first Tuesday of March, 1809 ; 
but high waters prevented a meeting. 

The commission of Synod reported that they had commissioned 
Dr. Hall and Rev. Andrew Flinn, to act as missionaries in the 
vacancies in the bounds of Synod ; Mr. Flinn did not act, but Dr. 
Hall had performed service. His report was read to Synod. He 
was absent four months and thirteen days, preached sixty-nine 
times, held three communions and several evening societies, and 
travelled 1545 miles. The following are extracts from his report : 
" Previously to his departure from home, he had extracted four 



464 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

hundred and twenty questions from our Confession of Faith, which 
embraced the most important doctrines contained in that system, 
and disseminated them through eight of our vacancies, for the pe- 
rusal of the people until he should return to finish his mission, at 
which time they were to be called upon for public examination." 
The success attending this effort, he reports as having been very 
encouraging. The following extract refers to the exercises which 
had prevailed extensively beyond the Catawba among the congre- 
gations he visited, viz. : 

"For the satisfaction of Synod and others to whom this report 
may come, vour missionary begs indulgence in being somewhat 
particular in the case of Knobb Creek congregation. He visited 
them w^ith much pleasure, and spent some considerable time 
among them, both in November and April. Some of the most 
intelligent and apparently pious of them, told him that since they 
have come to look back and reason on their past extravagant 
views, feelings, and exercises, they are filled with horror as to 
themselves, and gratitude to God, that they were not given over 
to the most wild and delusive fanaticism ; that when they hear 
or read of the horrid and extravagant conduct of the Shakers in 
the Western States, they are filled with horror at their former 
situation, as it now appears to them that if those people had then 
come among them, they seemed prepared to run with them into 
all their extravagance and enthusiasm. The following account 
your missionary had from one of their members, who formerly 
did, and still does sustain an eminently pious character. ' When 
I fell into those extraordinary exercises I found such pleasure 
in them that I would not think of parting with thon ; yet ivhen 
iJiey were off, I found the power of religion so declining in my 
heart, that I was conscious that in that state I never need expect 
to enter the kingdom of heaven ; and they have cost me many 
sleepless hours in prayer and wrestling with my own wretched 
heart, before I could give them up.'' Let none, however, from 
this statement, take occasion to think unfavorably or even lightly, 
of those deep and heart-affecting exercises, both distressful and 
joyous, to which no doubt we have all been witnesses, and many 
of which, if we judge by their fruits, we have reason to believe, 
were produced by the powerful operations of the Hol}'^ Spirit, by 
which, from an overwhelming sense of divine things, those effects 
were produced on the body ; as the exercises of the above society 
respected not only their spiritual but also their temporal affairs, 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 465 

managing their farms, assisting each other in daily labor, and 
especially the marriage of young people one with another. 

" An elder of that congregation whom your missionary and 
other members of Synod had for many years known to be a man 
of established religious character, had removed to Tennessee, 
being then under suspension with many others, by Presbytery, 
for adhering to those extravagances, and who returned on busi- 
ness when your missionary was in that neighborhood. He told 
him that he had steadfastly adhered to his former system ; was 
filled with the deepest prejudices against Presbytery ; was highly 
disgusted with his fellow members when he heard that they had 
submitted to the requisitions of Presbytery, as it appeared to him 
iike giving up the cause of God, until the then last preceding 
August ; without any human means, or anything but what he 
must ascribe to the sovereign mercy and grace of God, his eyes 
were opened to see the absurdity of his conduct, especially that 
of spurning at the government of the church, and of private mem- 
bers attempting to administer the sealing ordinances of the 
gospel. 

*' i^nd your missionary was a witness to his ample and solemn 
acknowledgment of his error, and to an admonition which he re- 
ceived before the session of Knobb Creek, in conformity to the 
judgment of Presbytery ; which admonition he received not only 
with suitable humility, but expressions of gratitude and thankful- 
ness in being fully restored to the communion of the church. The 
above example appeared to be the prevailing disposition of the so- 
ciety, except a few individuals, who seemed to retain a smack of 
their former principles ; but without the least appearance in their 
conduct. Those were so inconsiderable, that they had no influence 
in the society," 

In conclusion, he pressed the subject of an educated ministry, 
pleading the necessities of the church as reasons for great activity 
in raising up a proper ministry. 

In order the better to understand this report, it may be observed 
that, in the year 1804, the Presbytery of Orange appointed Rev. 
Messrs. S. C. Caldwell, John M. Wilson, Humphrey Hunter, and 
elders, Messrs. John McKnitt Alexander, Thomas Harris, Jacob 
Alexander, Isaac Alexander, Hugh Parks, and Robert Stephen- 
son, a committee to visit Long Creek, and take up the irregulari- 
ties of Long Creek and Knobb Creek, on the subject of religion. 

They performed the duty assigned ; and upon inquiry found 
that some of the laymen laid claim to special divine guidance, and 
30 



466 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

had administered the ordinances of the Supper and of Baptism, 
being moved, as they said, by a divine impulse. For these and 
other irregularities many were suspended from the privileges of 
the church. 

The case of Rev. Wm. C. Davis before the First Presbytery of 
South Carolina came up. Upon inspecting the records of the 
Presbyteiy it appeared that the Second Presbytery had tabled 
charges against Mr. Davis, bvit did not appear to prosecute at the 
time fixed to meet Mr. Davis. That the First Presb3rtery heard 
Mr. Davis, and pronounced sentence. The charges were, — " 1st, 
He affirms and industriously propagates that what has been termed 
the passive obedience of Christ is all that the law of God can, or 
does require in order to justification of the believer, and that his 
active obedience is not imputed." 

" 2d. He also affirms and teaches that saving faith precedes 
regeneration, and has nothing holy in its nature, as to its first act. 

" 3d. That the Divine Being is bound by his own law, or, in 
other words, by the moral law. 

" 4th. That Adam was never bound to keep the moral law, as 
the Federal Head or Representative of his posterity ; or, in other 
words, that the moral law made no part of the conditions of the 
covenant of works." 

Mr. Davis admitted the charges, and explained them : That 
Christ's active righteousness gave eflEiciency to the atonement, but 
was not imputed : — that the first act of faith was before regeneration, 
and of consequence not holy, though acts of faith afterwards might 
be holy : — that the moral law was the standard of perfection and 
holiness, and so applied to God without derogation : — that, though 
the moral law had an immediate consequential connection with tlie 
condition of the covenant, either as to the keeping or breaking said 
covenant, yet it is not the guilt of transgressing the moral law that 
is imputed to Adam's posterity, but only the guilt of eating the 
forbidden fruit." 

The Presbytery condemned the tenets as contrary to the Con- 
fession, and unsound ; but, on the score of liberty of opinion and 
latitude of expression, did not condemn Mr. Davis for holding them 
as worthy of any church censure, though they considered him guilty 
and in some degree censurable, for his imprudence in expressing 
himself. 

The Synod was dissatisfied with this course, as by no means 
coming up to their directions of last year, or the exigencies of the 
case ; took up the matter, and were proceeding to investigation 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 467 

and. trial for decision, having by vote determined they had a right 
so to do, vv^hen Mr. Davis protested, and appealed to the Assembly. 
The Synod finally remitted the case to the Assembly ; and also an 
overture respecting the book Mr. Davis had published, denomi- 
nated the Gospel Flan, in which his sentiments were expressed at 
large. 

On request, the Synod constituted a Presbytery out of the 
territory of three others, to be known by the name of Harmony, to 
consist of the following members : — Rev. George McWhorter, 
Andrew Flinn, and John Couser, of the First Presbytery of South 
Carolina ; John R. Thompson, of Hopewell Presbytery ; to meet 
for the first time in the city of Charleston, on the first Wednesday 
of March, 1810, and that Rev. Andrew Flinn, or the senior mem- 
ber present, preside and open the Presbytery. 

Synod appointed a committee, consisting of Rev. James Mc- 
Ree, Samuel C. Caldwell, John Robinson, and John M. Wilson, 
to meet at Poplar Tent, the second Wednesday in November, to 
prepare a pastoral letter for the churches, warning them against 
the errors propagated by Mr. Davis ; and that they commit the 
letter, when prepared, to Dr. Waddel, to superintend the printing 
and circulation, in proper proportion, among the Presbyteries. 



SESSION XXIII. 

Fair Forest, Oct. 4th, 1810. 

Synod was opened by Rev. Robert B. Walker, with a sermon 
from 2d Corinth, iv., 7 ; and Rev. Samuel Stanford was chosen 
moderator. Second Presbytery of South Carolina reported Wm. 
H. Barr ; the Presbytery of Orange, that they had dismissed John 
Gillespie to the Presbytery of Transylvania, and James K. Burch 
to Presbytery of Philadelphia ; and had received Wm. McPhee- 
ters from Presbytery of Lexington, Va., and had licensed Benjamin 
H. Rice. 

The resolutions and decision of the General Assembly, in the 
case of Wjn. C. Davis,*" referred to them at the last Session of 
Synod, were read. After various propositions, and much consulta- 
tion, it was resolved that the First Presbytery of South Carolina be 
dissolved, and the members be annexed as follows : — " Rev. W..C 
Davis, pastor of Bullock's Creek ; Robert B. Walker of Bethesda • 
John B. Davies of Fishing Creek and Richardson ; Thomas 



468 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Neeley of Purity and Edmonds; with George Reid without a 
charge ; and the vacancies of Waxhaw, Unity, Bethel, Hopewell, 
Beersheba, Yorkville, Shiloh, and Salem, be, and hereby are, 
joined to the Presbytery of Concord ; and that Rev. Robert Mc- 
Cullock and John Foster, without charges ; Samuel H. Yongue 
of Lebanon and Mount Olivet, with the vacancies of Concord, 
Horeb, Sion, Aimwell, Catholic, Beaver Creek, and Hanging 
Creek, be, and hereby are, joined to the Presbytery of Harmony." 
The name of the Second Presbytery of South Carolina was 
changed to Presbytery of South Carolina. 

" Overtured, Are lotteries even for reUgious purposes, such as 
building churches, &c., consistent with the morality of the gos- 
pel ?" referred to the Assembly. 

Dr. Hall read his report of missionary service at gi'eat length. 
His first lour commenced October 25, 1809, and ended December 
14th, After his return from the General Assembly, to which he 
was a delegate, he commenced his tour again on the 16th of June, 
1810. Of this tour, the following extracts are the most important, 
and of abiding interest. (He came in contact with two charac- 
ters who must be noticed.) His tour was among the Scotch be- 
tween the Cape Fear and Pedee Rivers. 

Extracts from the Report. 

" Mr. Lindsay, whose name has been mentioned above, and Mr. 
McDiarmid, still continue to preach and administer sealing ordi- 
nances, although they have been both deposed, many years since, 
from the ministry of the gospel, by the Presbytery of Orange. 
They command influence over thousands of their countrymen 
from Scotland ; although common fame says they persevere in 
habits of intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. Mr. Lind- 
say's adherents acknowledge as to him, and Mr. McDiarmid's say 
he only takes a refreshment. This is said to be the frequent 
practice of both ; that they and their parishioners, after w^orship, 
even on Sabbath evenings, repair to a house where spirits are sold, 
and spend the evening in drinking, and sometimes deal out such 
hard blows to each other, that not long since some of them were 
adjudged by court to pay $40 each, on one of these occasions. 

" Your missionary visited both the above preachers at their own 
houses, and conversed largely with them in presence of some of 
their people. Mr. L. complained much to him of the conduct 
of the Presbytery in his case. He was asked why he did not 
appeal to Synod, He said there he was in an error. He was in- 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 469 

formed that, although the time limited for appealing was long 
since elapsed, yet, perhaps, he might still have a hearing. To 
this he replied, that he understood we were all of one sort. And 
being asked what sort was that, he replied, it was friends to the 
new religion ; and that for not falling in with that, he had been 
deposed from the ministry. In short, he seemed to have no relish 
for conversation on any of those subjects, and endeavored, by every 
possible means, to turn the current of conversation into some dif- 
ferent channel. 

" Mr. McD. was much more pliant, and professed a strong de- 
sire to be united to the Presbytery. This also appeared to be the 
desire of many of his people. Your missionary had three differ- 
ent conversations with him, the last of which was at his own 
house, in presence of two elders, and a respectable Scotch mer- 
chant from Fayetteville. He seemed all submission, and requested 
your missionary, as did also the above gentleman, to write to Pres- 
bytery on the subject, which he did, and delivered the letter to Mr. 
McD. The company were then called to dinner ; but before we 
arose, Mr. McD. exhibited evident marks of intoxication. To pro- 
ceed on fair ground, your missionary inquired privately at all the 
above gentlemen, who were all of the same opinion. The letter 
lay in an accessible place, from which your missionary took it up 
and asked Mr. McD.'s pardon for recalling it. He was asked the 
reason by Mr. McD., and he was pointedly told it was because he 
had meddled too freely with ardent spirits. He fell into a violent 
passion and ran out of the house. The gentleman from Fayette- 
ville followed and pacified him so as to return. Your missionary 
and the elders then bade him good bye, and withdrew without 
further ceremony." 

(The next day, Sabbatli, he read the letter to the people ; 
explained the circumstances and exhorted them to examine their 
case ; and appealed to the elders who were now there for the 
truth of his statements. On leaving the place some said, " we 
have heard the truth to-day ;" others said — " few would have dared 
to say that.") 

" Mr. M'Intyre, whose people live in a blended state with those 
of Mr. L., is gaining considerable ground on the latter. This 
need not be thought strange, considering the striking contrast be- 
tween the characters of the men. Many families have lately come 
over to Mr. M'Intyre ; and frequently young people of families 
who adhere to Mr. L. are taken with convictions under Mr. M'l.'s 
preaching. In this case some are afraid to go home, for fear of 



470 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the lasli ; and your missionary has seen young people in a state of 
banishment from their father's house on account of their attach- 
ment to rehgion. In short, the state of both the aged and young 
who are under the influence of those two men baffles description ; 
nor would such particular history of their and their people's case 
have been given, were it not to attract the attention of Synod to 
that unhappy and deluded people. And their unhappiness does 
not arise only from the examples set before them ; but their teach- 
ers are said to be industrious in propagating falsehoods among 
them, to prejudice them against our Clergy ; — asserting that we 
have cast off the Westminster Confession of Faith, and have made 
one of our own ; that we are all become Methodists, and have de- 
parted from the principles of Presbyterianism, and that there is not 
now a Presbyterian minister in the United States except them- 
selves, &c. &c. In a particular manner they attempt to prepos- 
sess the minds of their adherents against the young Scotch minis- 
ters in those parls, representing them as ignorant, illiterate block- 
heads, &c., although the fruits of their labors manifest that tliey 
are able and successful ministers of the New Testament. And it 
appears to have been a wise and happy dispensation of Providence 
for that part of the State, that such a set of young men were raised 
up and qualified to preach the gospel immediately before the com- 
mencement of the revival ; especially as they were able to preach 
in both the English and Gaelic languages. Wherever they have 
been placed the revival has predominated under their ministry. 
And notwithstanding the many tliousands of miles your missionary 
has travelled during the last ten years, he has not been in any place 
where rehgion has flourished more, nor the power of it kept up 
with more energy than under their ministrations." 

" There have been what may be called miracles of grace among 
Mr. L.'s adherents. An elder of Mr. L.'s, about 50 years old, had 
been an early subject of the revival, and became a zealous profes- 
sor of religion ; but on that account was so persecuted by his 
neighbors, his wife, and especially Mr. L., his situation became 
so insupportable to him that he went about forty miles from where 
he lived and bought a plantation, on which he improved and raised 
two crops before his family, which he occasionally visited, would 
remove with him." 

" His wife was strongly attached to Mr. L., and consequently 
bitterly prejudiced against the young Scotch clergy, and all others 
who were friendly to the revival, until last summer, it pleased God, 
when your missionary was in these parts, to show her in what a lost 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 471 

State she was on account of sin. This was unknown to him until 
his last winter's tour to that place, at which time he visited her at 
her own house. Slie appeared then to be under deep and rational 
conviction of sin ; and although she was an intelligent woman, 
and well instructed in the doctrines of the Christian religion, yet 
it appeared to him he never conversed with a person more anxious 
to obtain religious instruction than she was at that time. Not long 
afterwards she professed to obtain the comforts of religion ; and 
your missionary can better conceive than express his sensations of 
mind in meeting with her and her husband in his visit to that place 
last July. >S7ie nearly in an ecstasy, and he bursting into tears of 
gratitude and joy on account of what God had done for his aged 
companion. During public wership, where your missionary fre- 
quently saw her, she was almost constantly under bodily agitation ; 
lifting up her liands, and it is believed her heart, in devotional ex- 
ercises. As that gave umbrage to some aged professors, and es- 
pecially to Mr. L.'s people, your missionary spoke privately to her 
on the subject, and she declared to him that she could not prevent 
it, and at that instant became agitated through her whole frame, as 
soon as the subject was mentioned to her. And to whomsoever 
these lines may come, the writer begs leave to be indulged in 
making these remarks, — that however some may be thus affected 
by bodily agitations, by an undue indulgence, and perhaps some 
may be so presumptuous as to feign them, yet from the above, and 
many other similar examples, he is well assured that in many cases 
the subjects of them may as easily suppress their vital breath and 
support natural life, as under certain states of mind to suppress 
such bodily emotions ; although at the same time, if it were the 
divine will that the same state of mind could be exercised, and 
their outward appearances prevented, it Avould be more agreeable 
to him, especially during pubhc worship." 

" Resolved, That Dr. Hall be requested to publish in the ' Star'^ 
his missionary report, or such parts of it as he may deem suitable 
for publication." 

The Presbytery of Orange overtured Synod for an order to or- 
dain Mr. Joseph Caldwell, of the University ; and the Synod, in 
consideration of the prospect of increased usefulness, authorized 
the ordination. 

SESSION XXIV. 

Fourth Creek church, Oct. 8t/i, 1811. 
Synod was opened by Samuel Stanford with a sermon from 



472 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

2 Chron. xviii., 18; and Rev. James M'Elhenny was chosen modera- 
tor. The Presbytery of Orange report, Wm. B. Merony and Joseph 
CaldwelL " The Presbytery of Concord laid before the Synod 
their proceedings in the case of the Rev. William C. Davis, and re- 
quested their advice whether or not the way of Presbytery be fully 
open to proceed to deposition in said case. Whereupon, after fully 
attending to the proceedings of the Presbytery of Concord, Synod 
did, and hereby do, express the opinion that the way is entirely open 
to proceed to the last step of discipline in the case of the said W^m. 
C. Davis." 

The Committee of Missions reported that they had employed Dr. 
Hall for four months, two east of Yadkin, in North Carolina, and 
two west of Ocony River, Georgia. Mr. Hall read his report, which 
was highly acceptable. 

'' Presbytery of Orange report that on the 3d day of April, 1811. 
they suspended Rev. Wm. C. Davis from the exercises of his func- 
tions as a minister of the gospel ; and on the 4th day of October 
deposed him from the office of the ministry of the everlasting gospel ; 
also that they have dismissed the Rev. Samuel Morrison to join the 
Presbytery of West Tennessee ; and that they have on the 21st day 
of January, 1811, lost, by death, the Rev. Dr. Samuel E. M'Corkle, 
late pastor of the church of Thyatira." 

" Overtured, that this Synod do resign the missionary business to 
which they have hitherto attended into the hands of the General 
Assembly, to be conducted by them for time to come ; and that it 
will be the duty of our Presbyteries, from time to time, to inform 
the assembly where missionary labors appear to be wanted, and 
what missionaries they may have in their power to furnish. But in 
the meantime that Synod conduct this business as they have hitherto 
done till our next session. Ordered, that this overture be sent up to 
the General Assembly." 

The Commission of Missions was appointed as usual. 

Upon examining the records of the Presbytery of Harmony it ap- 
peared that Rev. Ezra Fisk had been ordained siiie titulo ; to this 
the Synod objected ; " and do therefore recommend that the several 
Presbyteries under our care be cautious not to violate the discipline 
of our church in this respect." Resolved also, " that inasmuch as 
the said Presbytery have declared, that it is altogether inexpedient 
to consult the Synod in this case, as has been usual in similar cases, 
and that the right of ordination, in all cases, is originally inherent 
in Presbytery, and has never been formally surrendered to the higher 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 473 

judications of the church. — Synod cannot but disclaim such a prin- 
ciple, as having never been granted by our discipline." 

" The Synod enjoined on the several members of this Synod to 
use every prudent and dutiful measure in their power to procure and 
disseminate Confessions of Faith and Catechisms amongst the congre- 
gations under our care, and to report their attention and success at 
our next meeting." 

An overture was sent to the Assembly calling attention to the 
fact, whether the book of discipline was sufficiently explicit about 
restoring penitent offenders,, and also respecting the baptism of 
Adults. 



SESSION XXV. 

Neio Providence, Oct. 5tli, 1812. 

Synod was opened by Rev. George Reid with a sermon from John 
v., 34 ; and Rev. James Hall, D.D., was chosen moderator. 

The Presbytery of Harmony reported that they had re- 
ceived Robert M'Culloch, Samuel Yongue, John Foster, and 
Muj^dock Murphy, had ordained and installed Colin MTver, and or- 
dained Aaron W. Leland sine titulo. The names of Henry Kolluck, 
D.D., and John Boggs, also appear for the first time among the 
members of Harmony Presbytery. 

The Commission of Synod reported that Dr. Hall had been com- 
missioned for three months to Georgia ; and they could have em- 
ployed three more missionaries had the funds been sufficient. Dr. 
Hall read his report, which was highly acceptable; during four 
months and sixteen days he had travelled 1485 miles, and preached 
58 sermons. 

On inquiry, it appeared that very general attention had been paid 
to the order of Synod last year respecting the circulation of the 
Confession of Faith and Catechisms. The order was renewed. 

It appearing that the General Assembly had accepted the manage- 
ment of the missionary business in the bounds of Synod : ordered, 
" that it be enjoined on the members under the care of Synod to use 
every means in their power to aid the General Assembly in support- 
ing the missionary and contingent funds. 

Resolved, that the following members of the Presbytery of 
Orange be set off to form a Presbytery to be known as the Presbytery 
of Fatjetteville, viz. : Rev. Samuel Stanford, Robert Tate, William 



474 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

L. Turner, Malcolm McNair, Murtlock McMillan, John Mclntyre, 
William B. Merony, Allan McDougald, and William Peacock ; to 
meet in Fayetteville on the first Tuesday of April next; and Rev. 
Samuel Stanford, or in his absence the senior minister, to preach 
and preside till a moderator be chosen. 

The Presbytery of Harmony having proceeded to ordain another 
person sine titulo, notwithstanding the order of last Synod, the mat- 
ter was taken up, and a member, Mr. Couser, announcing that he 
had received a letter from the moderator of the last assembly, stating 
that the assembly were dissatisfied with the proceedings of this Sy- 
nod, and forbore to announce their dissatisfaction, only in the hope 
that Synod and Presbytery would compromise the matter ; the Rev. 
James Wallis, John M. Wilson, and Joseph Caldwell, were ap- 
pointed a committee to bring in a report. 

The committee reported at great length ; the substance of w^hich 
is as follows, viz. : That ordination si7ie titulo was contrary to the 
usages of the church of Scotland, " without permission expressly 
granted by a superior judicatory ;" that some twenty years ago the 
Presbytery of Orange refused so to ordain till they obtained leave of 
Synod ; and in 1810 (when Mr. Wilson was member of assembly) 
the committee of overtures of the assembly, before whom Mr. Wil- 
son appeared, expressed themselves in favor of the rule — " tJiat or- 
dination sine titulo ought not to take place without ajjplication to 
Synod, or to the General Assembly, and express authority obtained 
from them ;" that when the subject had been sent down to the Pres- 
byteries, after a long deliberation (several years), only eighteen 
Presbyters reported, of whom seven were for investing the assembly 
with original power, and eleven against it : and, that this Synod 
consulting — " the history of the church, the book of discipline and 
satisfactory impressions of our own minds," came to the conclusion 
" that Presbyteries were not entitled to the power which the Pres- 
bytery. of Harmony had exercised." 

The committee referred to the minutes of the assembly for 1795, 
for the following record, viz. : " the following request was overtured, 
that the Synods of Virginia and the Carolinas have liberty to direct 
their Presbyteries to ordain such candidates as they may judge ne- 
cessary to appoint, on missions to preach the gospel ; whereupon, 
resolved, that the above request be granted, the Synods being care- 
ful to restrict the permission to the ordination of such candidates 
only as are engaged to be sent on missions." 

Without discussing the expediency or disadvantage of ordaining 
sine titulo, the committee said that on consulting the oldest and 



RECORDS OF THE SYNOD. 475 

most experienced of Synod, they find that it has been the unvarying 
impression that the practice the Synod have been endeavoring to 
maintain, is the constitution which has been received by the church. 
The committee referred to the book of discipline for support of their 
construction, and concluded by recommending that the minute of 
last Synod be not repealed. In this the Synod " cordially " con- 
curred. 

Overiured, that request be made to the next assembly for divi- 
sion of this Synod ; the reasons offered were the number of members, 
and the distance they were compelled to travel to Synod. " That 
the Presbyteries of Orange, Concord, and Fayetteville, be constituted 
a Synod to be known by the name of Synod of North Carolina ', 
to meet at Alamance Church on the first Thursday of October next 
(1813) ; that the Rev. Dr. James Hall, the present moderator, or, 
in case of his absence, the senior member present, open Synod with 
a sermon, and preside until a new moderator be chosen." 

" That the Presbyteries of South Carolina, Hopewell, and Har- 
mony, be constituted a Synod to be known by the name of the Sy- 
nod of South Carolina and Georgia : to meet on the first Thurs- 
day in November, in the year 1813, at Upper Long Cane Church, 
and afterwards, on their own adjournments. That the Rev. Dr. 
Henry Kolluck, or in case of his absence, the senior minister pre- 
sent, preach the opening sermon ; and preside until a moderator be 
diosen." 

Synod adjourned sine die, concluded with prayer. 
James Hall, Moderator. 



476 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON, D.D., AND THE CHURCH OP ROCKY 
RIVER. 

Nurtured in the bloody scenes of the Revolution, Mr. Wilson 
w^as pre-eminently a man of peace. " No cases come to court 
from that part of Mecklenburg," was said significantly of 
Rocky River and Philadelphia, while he was pastor of these 
two large and flourishing congregations, numbering, at his 
death, more members than any other pastoral charge in the Synod, 
and composing originally but one congregation, by the name of 
Rocky River. His early years were spent at the place of his birth, 
about six miles east of Charlotte, in Mecklenburg county, North 
Carolina, within the bounds of Sugar Creek congregation. The 
event of his birth took place in the year 1769. His father was 
from England, and in early life was engaged in mercantile business 
in Philadelphia. From that city he removed to North Carolina, 
married, and settled in Mecklenburg county, and was actively en- 
gaged with the citizens of that section of country, that Tarleton, in 
his Campaigns, says was " more hostile to England than any other 
part of America" in carrying on the struggle for Independence. 
He died before the British army encamped at Charlotte in 1780, 
leaving three children. When the ravages of the eiiemy in South 
Carolina, particularly about the time of Buford's Massacre, drove 
the inhabitants from their houses to seek refuge in North Carolina, 
the families on the Waxhaw found refuge in Mecklenburg, and 
widow Jackson, with her son Andrew, resided for a time at the 
house of widow Wilson. The two boys, Andrew and John M., 
were of about the same age, and worked and played together, full 
of the spirit of independence, little conscious of the part they 
would afterwards act, one in the church, and the other in the state. 
The place in which Andrew Jackson passed his early years was 
claimed by North Carolina for a long time ; but is witliin the 
bounds of South Carolina, as now settled by the mutual agreement 
of the States. 

The congregation of Sugar Creek had for its pastor Rev. Joseph 
Alexander, who was one of the five pastors that regularly served 



REY. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 477 

their congregations during the distressing scenes of the war, be- 
tween the Yadkin and Catawba Rivers. His compeers in service, 
Hall, Balch, McCaule and McCorkle, were no common men. In 
their congregations the regular instructions in the sanctuarj^, and 
the religious education of children, were less neglected than in 
those congregations around that were served by missionaries, and 
supplies sent out by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. 

An incident in the early life of Mr, Wilson was often referred 
to by his mother. When just beginning to walk, he strayed away 
to amuse himself, in a distant part of the yard enclosing the house. 
After a little time he was seen sitting on the ground apparently 
greatly pleased with some object lying by his side. His mother's 
approach but pleased him the more, in his dangerous sport. With 
breathless haste she seized him, quick as thought, and pressed 
him to her bosom, overcome with emotion ; for he was drawing 
his hand over the folds of a large rattlesnake, apparently delighted 
with the smooth skin apd bright colors of the reptile. His pre- 
servation was considered providential ; and the thoughts and re- 
flections connected with it had an influence on his future life. A 
pious mother could scarcely refrain from devoting such a boy to 
God's peculiar service, with an energy that must afl'ect, not only 
her own, but also the mind and heart of her child. And we are 
not surprised to find that he was encouraged in early life to com- 
mence a literary course of study. 

The intended college at Charlotte had been denied a charter by 
the king, though no money or any peculiar privileges had been 
sought from the government, and tlie colonial legislature had twice 
granted the request of the people of Mecklenburg, who were anx- 
ious for the education of their sons : and the invasion of North 
Carolina by Cornwallis, in 1780, had broken up the institution 
which Avas in active operation under Dr. McWhorter, from New 
Jersey, without State patronage, under the name of Liberty Hall. 
After the departure of the invading array, the exercises of the 
institution to supply the place of a high school and measurably of 
a college, were resumed under the directions of Dr. Henderson, a 
physician of eminence. At this school, when twelve years old, 
Mr, Wilson commenced his classical education. For want of 
funds the number of teachers was small, and the public attention 
was so drawn by the efl'orts to establish Mount Zion College at 
Winnsborough, South Carohna, under the talented president, the 
Rev. T. H. McCaule, that little was done for the Charlotte school 



478 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

except what might be accomplished by the enterprise of a few 
individuals. 

His literary course was completed at Hampden Sydney 
College, in Prince Edward county, Va., then having for its Presi- 
dent, that noted, and eminently successful preacher, John B. 
Smith, D.D., whose name is connected with that great revival of 
religion in 1788, and onward, the influence of which was felt in 
Virginia and Carolina, in bringing multitudes into the church, 
some few of whom still remain, just on the horizon of life — and in 
raising up a host of preachers, whose labors have done much to 
spread the influence of the gospel over the South and West. For 
a classmate, he had Moses Waddel, afterwards distinguished as 
a divine and teacher of youth, having trained some of the most 
eminent men in South Carolina both in Church and State ; and con- 
tested with him the first distinction at the graduation of the class. 
Having heartily embraced the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
as containmg the principles by which he would be governed, and 
the truths by which he hoped to be saved, he devoted himself to 
the work of the ministry of reconciliation ; and chose as his pre- 
ceptor in Theology, that pioneer of domestic missions in North 
Carolina, the Rev. James Hall, D.D., of Iredell county, whom he 
had known from his youth. 

The Presbytery of Orange, at that time embracing all North 
Carolina, in the summer of 1793, gave him license to preach the 
gospel as a probationer ; and according to a good custom of send- 
ing candidates on missions, the revival of which would be advan- 
tageous to the church, the ministers, and the community at large, 
he was sent by the commission of Synod, on a missionary excur- 
sion of many months through the counties in the lower part of the 
State. He then made his residence for some years in Burke 
county, in the midst of a shrewd, intelligent population, of Scotch- 
Irish origin, from among whom but few churches had at tliat 
time been gathered ; and was ordained pastor about the year 
1795. With the people of Burke county, he remained till the 
year 1801, when he accepted a call from the congregation of 
Rocky River and Philadelphia. While resident in Burke county, 
his labors, as a minister, were eminently successful in raising the 
standard of piety, in planting new churches, and adding to the 
numbers of the old ones ; and when he left the county, he carried 
with him the high respect of the community at large, and the 
reverence of Christians. 



REV. JOHN MACKEMIE WILSON. 479 

While resident in Burke he was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary Erwin, the daughter of Alexander Erwin, of that county, 
and found in her an amiable, pious, and intelligent companion, 
and pastor's wife, for more than thirty years. He survived her 
about five years. 

The congregation to which he removed in 1801, and in the 
service of which he spent his manhood and his age, originally 
formed but one, and that among the oldest in the Presbytery of 
Concord, or in the State. The precise date of the first settle- 
ments in that part of Mecklenburg included in the bounds of 
Rocky River congregation cannot now be known, but as early as 
1755 a request for supplies from Rocky River appears upon the 
records of the Synod of New York. Mention is made of the 
destitute state of the neighborhoods of North Carolina, but the 
names of places are not given. But in 1755 " Synod appoint 
Mr. Clark to take a journey into Virginia and North Carolina, tb 
supply the vacancies there for six months, betwixt this and next 
Synod, particularly at Rocky River and Sugar Creek, at the 
Hawfields, Eno, Hico, and Dan Rivers." The Rev. Alexander 
Craighead retreating from the incursions of the Indians that were 
laying waste the frontiers of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylva- 
nia, after Braddock's defeat, in 1755, visited this country, to 
which part of his flock had retreated from the Cowpasture. The 
time of his first visit cannot be precisely ascertained. In Janu- 
ary, 1758, the Presbytery of Hanover holding its session at Capt. 
Anderson's, in Cumberland county, Virginia, directed Mr. Craig- 
head to visit Rocky River on the second Sabbath of February. 
In the April following a regular call was presented from Rocky 
River for Mr. Craighead's services, which he accepted ; an order 
was taken for his installation by Mr. Martin, This order not 
being carried into effect, the Rev. W. Richardson was directed, 
in September, to attend to the installation, while on his way to 
the Cherokee Indians. This it appears was attended to. 

In the year 1761, in the list of places supplicating supplies 
from the Synod of New York and New Jersey, Rocky River has 
a place, and the name of Daniel Caldwell, one of the first settlers, 
was on the list of members of Synod. 

The first regular supply after Mr. Craighead of whom there is 
any account, was the Rev. Hezekiah James Balch, of Revolu- 
tionary memory, who by order of Synod was ordained in 1769, 
to accept a call from Carolina by the Presbytery of Donegall, by 
which he had been licensed as probationer in 1768. 



480 SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

Rocky River was one of the seven congregations that covered 
the region of country represented in the convention at Charlotte, 
of Declaration memory, and was no disinterested spectator of the 
doings and catastrophe of the Regulation. The first settlers in 
the bounds of the congregation were all of the Scotch-Irish race, 
that landed in Pennsylvania, and after tarrying a short time there, 
or in Maryland, found their way to North Carolina. As was usual, 
they came in a company : Col. Robert Harris, on Reedy Creek ; 
his brother, Samuel Harris, on Clear Creek ; Andrew Davis, on 
Reedy Creek ; Moses Shelby, on Clear Creek ; Wm. White and 
his two brothers, James and Archibald, on or near Rocky River ; 
David Caldwell, on Caldwell's Creek ; and Adam Alexander on 
Clear Creek. Others probably came with these, but their names 
are not known. As the tide of emigration was turned by the In- 
dian depredations to the' peaceful streams of Carolina, the settle- 
ments rapidly increased and formed a vigorous, active and inde- 
pendent part of the county. The Morrison family came early to 
Rocky River from Scotland, making a short sojourn in Pennsyl- 
vania. There were three brothers, two of them lived to a great 
age. The descendants of the Harris, Alexander and Morrison 
families have been numerous ; of the latter, nine have entered the 
ministry, and others are preparing. 

When the conflict was going on between the governor and those 
Regulators that lived in Granville, Orange and Guilford, the people 
composing this congregation, in the mass, favorable to their fellow- 
citizens and kinsmen in those counties, were not, nevertheless, 
united as to the course to be pursued. Not having felt all the 
provocations and impositions of the people of Orange and Guil- 
ford, they sympathized deeply, but w^ere not prepared to resist the 
governor by force of arms. The orders of the governor for the 
militia of the western counties, to send their proportion of men to 
march under the command of General Waddel, called out Capt. 
Adam Alexander, one of the first settlers. How many of his mili- 
tia company went with him is not known. That he was unwilling 
to shed the blood of the Regulators, is readily seen by reverting to 
the course he pursued in persuading Waddel to retreat across the 
Yadkin, instead of engaging in battle or continuing his march to 
meet the governor. 

But other citizens of Rocky River were more decided in their 
feelings and course, and openly espoused the cause of the Regula- 
tors, refusing to serve against them, and acting decisively for them. 
General Waddel, who was ordered to rendezvous at Salisbury, and 



REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 481 

wait for the militia to meet him on the 2d of May, was at his post 
with a considerable force, and delayed his march, to join the Gov- 
ernor, till he should receive the supply of ammunition expected at 
Charleston, South Carolina. 

A convoy of three wagons, loaded principally with powder, was 
on the way, with a small force for a guard ; passing through Meck- 
lenburg county unmolested and unsuspecting, they were encamped 
for the night, on the Salisbury road, about three miles west of 
where Concord town now stands, Cabarrus being then part of 
Mecklenburg county, when a plan was suddenly proposed for the 
destruction of the powder, and as suddenly executed. Nine per- 
sons from the Rocky River congregation, — James, William, and 
John White, three brothers, and sons of James White, one of the 
first settlers on Rocky River ; William White, a cousin of 
theirs ; Robert Caruthers, Benjamin Cockran, Robert Davi's, son 
of Andrew Davis, one of the first settlers on Reedy Creek ; James 
Ashmore, and Joshua Hedley, with William Alexander, of Sugar 
Creek congregation, and perhaps one or two others, bind them- 
selves with a singular and awful oath, to assist each other in the 
enterprise on hand, and keep the secret of their participation while 
there might be danger in the acknowledgment ; and then black- 
ing their faces and hands, and otherwise disfiguring themselves as 
Indians, about the breaking of day they seized upon the convoy, 
and permitting the drivers and their teams to go on unharmed with 
the guard, pouring out the powder upon the ground in one large 
pile, and laying a train, they set fire. The explosion was felt for 
many miles. Some thought it thundered ; others that the earth 
quaked. 

This event, with the unwillingness expressed by the militia to 
kill their countrymen, disheartened Gen. Waddel from forming a 
junction with the Governor. The secret for a time was well kept, 
notwithstanding the rewards offered for discovery, and the threats 
of condign punishment from the Governor and officers of the 
crown. At last one, under bodily fear, revealed the names of his 
fellow actors, and put them all to great trouble for a time, and in- 
flicted lasting sufferings upon himself in his own reflections. The 
Declaration of Independence relieved them from further appre- 
hension till the invasion by Cornwallis. The leader of the party 
was William Alexander, who, to distinguish him from others of the 
same sirname in the numerous class of Alexanders, was called 
Black Billy to the day of his death. His bones lie in Sugar 
Creek grave-yard. 

31 



482 SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

Adam Alexander was one of the members of the convention that 
issued the famous declaration of independence, and served as 
colonel of the militia. During the war he was frequently in ser- 
vice. Moses Shelby lived upon the farm, and built the house 
occupied by Rev, Mr. Wilson, while pastor of the congregation. 
His family, part of them at least, were born in Maryland previous 
to the emigration to Carolina. John Query, one of the convention 
at Charlotte, belonged to the bounds of Rocky River. He, Adam 
Alexander and Moses Shelby, lived in the bounds of what is now 
Philadelphia, called for a time, Clear Creek. The two former 
were both elders in the church. 

These few facts are mentioned to show the patriotism of the 
charge to which Dr. Wilson ministered the greater part of his 
active life. He labored with and for the men who acted in the 
Revolution, and for their children. And if the men that pitched 
their tents in this part of Cabarrus were like their descendants that 
meet at Rocky River and Philadelphia, as members of the church, 
they were men that loved their Bibles and Catechisms, and feared 
God. 

Mr. Balch preached at Rocky River and Poplar Tent until re- 
moved by death, after a service of about six or seven years. About 
the year 1778, Robert Archibald was ordained as pastor, and con- 
tinued for a number of years to preach at Rocky River and Poplar 
Tent, and teaching a classical school at Poplar Tent, in which 
some eminent men were educated. 

During a vacancy in the church, after Mr. Archibald ceased to 
preach, the Rev. James Hall, of Iredell, and Rev. Joseph D. Kil- 
patrick, were sent by the Presbytery to hold a communion with 
the church. Those seasons were then preceded and followed by 
days of preaching to the great congregations that would generally 
collect ; and were often, as in this case, followed by special bless- 
ings. Although the church was without a pastor, a precious revi- 
val accompanied and followed tliis meeting, which resulted in great 
accessions to the church ; and was one of the most blessed of the 
numerous revivals enjoyed by Rocky River church. 

Mr. Alexander Caldwell, son of the venerable David Caldwell, 
was ordained as the pastor of these churches, 1793, and served 
them with great acceptance, until the year 1797. To superior 
mental endowments, and great acquirements, he added a fine per- 
son, portly gait, engaging manners, and eminertt ^Christian charac- 
ter. But in the inscrutable providence of God, he was afflicted 
with the greatest of human maladies, and his fine powers and 



REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 483 

superior acquirements all ran to waste under the influence of a 
disturbed intellect. Archibald, his predecessor, of whom an ac- 
count will be given in another place, ^a man of talents, was wrecked 
on the shoals of false doctrine and ungoverned appetites. For 
him, the congregation mourned in abasement, as for a fallen star. 
But they wept for Caldwell, in compassion and amazement, as 
they beheld the ruins of a powerful intellect, unstained by crime, 
inoffensive from moral pollution, walking among them like the 
sun eclipsed, dimmed but unfallen. 

The first symptom of the disease was melancholy, and through 
the remainder of his life, which was protracted to the year 1841, 
an air of pensive sadness hung upon his features. Studious, 
philosophic, cheerful, and devotional, h^ spent his time in adding 
manuscript to manuscript ; always harmless, and peculiarly at- 
tentive to the private duties of a Christian, he attracted the atten- 
tion, and awakened the sympathies of his whole circle of ac- 
quaintances. His immense collection of manuscripts exhibited 
reading, investigation, logical discussion ; but a vein of disorganiz- 
ing madness ran through the whole. One cannot reflect without 
emotion, upon the happy change that, in all human probability, 
death must have wrought upon his diseased mind, when his mor- 
tality was put off, and his immortality put on in the presence of 
God. 

Mr. Wilson, the successor of Mr. Caldwell, after an interval 
occupied by supplies, received nis dismission from Quaker 
Meadow, and his calls to Rocky River and Philadelphia, at the 
same Presbytery, Sept., 1801. His ministerial course was worthy 
of the age in which he was born, and the instructors by whose 
instrumentality he was fitted for the work of his Lord's vineyard. 
If there be truth in the proverb that " lie is the best Jisherman who 
catches most fish,'''' Wilson was among] the best of preachers and 
pastors. A brother minister, well acquainted with the circum- 
stances, says — " It is believed that no such country congregation, 
as Rocky River, can be found south of Pennsylvania ; and Phila- 
delphia is among the largest in the Presbytery of Concord. 
Since his death, each church has its pastor, which might have 
been so long before that event, but for the attachment to him as a 
man and a minister." 

A successor to Mr. Wilson says of him — " I have formed a very 
high estimate of his learning, piety, and successful labors as a 
minister of Jesus Christ ; and this estimate I have formed almost 
exclusively from intercourse with the people of his former charge, 



484 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and the fruits still visible of his long-continued labors among them. 
To this day his opinions and example are often referred to, as, 
after the Bible, of paramount authority, and that by almost all 
classes in the community.- It is no doubt owing, in a gi-eat mea- 
sure, to Dr. Wilson's training, that Rocky River congregation is 
(perhaps I might say) noted for the following particulars, viz. : 

" 1st. General, constant, and punctual, as well as respectful at- 
tenaance upon the stated public means of grace. All the families 
attend church. 

" 2d. Their system, union and harmony of action in managing 
congregational affairs, especially in financial concerns. 

" 3d. The very manifest intelligence, especially of the older 
people, and particularly ifi religious knowledge. 

" 4th. Tlie attention which is universally paid to the Catechisms 
and other doctrinal instructions of the church." 

" It was his custom," says the author of a sket.ch of his life, 
" regularly to hold examinations in the various sections of his con- 
gregations, in which the adults w^ere examined in the doctrines and 
precepts of the Bible, and the children were catechised in the most 
condescending and affectionate manner. Such examinations w^ere 
instrumental in diffusing a spirit of improvement, removing pre- 
judices against the truth, increasing the amount of scriptural 
knowledge, and securing steadfastness in the faith of Christians. 
Hence, perhaps, few congregations can be found where there is 
more knowledge respecting the doctrines of religion, compared 
with their attainments on other subjects, than those to which he 
ministered." 

His manner of preaching, free from all harshness, was strikingly 
characterized by a tenderness that reached the hearts of those for 
whom it was felt. He never pretended a fervency which he did 
not feel ; and reverence for G od appeared both in the matter and 
manner of his sermons. He valued men's souls, and feared his 
God. " He trusted in God to make him faithful and successful in 
his work. This dependence upon God for success, so far from 
relaxing his diligence, stimulated him to greater activity in preach- 
ing the gospel, and was the ground of his encouragement amid all 
his labors." " His zeal did not rise and sink, as the outward ap- 
pearances of usefulness were bright or forbidding. But his life 
presented a uniformity of untiring effort, which seemed to flow 
from an unshaken confidence in the presence and blessing of God. 
Tliis strong and humble reliance upon God proved how deep and 
abiding was the impression of the magnitude and responsibility of 



REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 485 

his ministry. Dr. Wilson earnestly desired and confidently ex- 
pected success in his work, — and he was not forsaken to the curse 
of those who do the work of God deceitfully." 

" He regarded an unwillingness to submit to the decision of 
pious, judicious, and disinterested arbitrators, as evidence of a bad 
cause, or proof of malignity inconsistent with the spirit of true 
religion. He believed that the members of the church are com- 
petent to settle their differences by friendly reference to each 
other, and that they are bound to do so by the laws of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. So judicious and affectionate were his counsels on 
this subject, and such the weight of his influence, that it was com- 
paratively rare for suits to he taken hy tJie ?nembers of his churches 
to the civil courts. 

After laboring with his people some eleven years, he yielded to 
their solicitations to open an academy for the education of young 
men, particularly as some of the members of his charge wished 
to educate their sons for the ministry. He opened his academy 
about a mile from his house, in 1812, and had a flourishing school 
while he continued to teach, which was about twelve years. Most 
of his pupils entered public life, and twenty-five became ministers 
of the gospel. The following is a list : — Rev. Messrs. Jas. Mor- 
rison, N. R. Morgan, Thomas Alexander, John Silliman, John M. 
Erwin, Robert King, James B. Stafford, R. H. Morrison, Elam J, 
Morrison, Hugh Wilson, Samuel L. Watson, Thomas Davis, Cy- 
rus Johnston, Henry N. Pharr, J. Le Roy Davies, Wm. B. Davies, 
C. Le Roy Boyd, James Stafford, Alexander E. Wilson, James 
E. Morrison, Robert Hall, John M. Wilson, Dion C. Pharr, Wm. 
N. Morrison, A. R. Pharr. Li about fifteen years fifteen young 
men from Rocky River entered the ministry, many of whom could 
not have received a classical education but for Dr. Wilson's aca- 
demy. His students loved him, venerated and obeyed him; and 
under the discipline of his school felt impelled to efforts after good- 
ness and excellence. 

Punctual in his attendance on the judicatories of the church, in 
which he was an active and beloved member, his last visits from 
home were in attendance on the Presbytery in Morganton, in the fall 
of 1830, and on the Synod, whose sessions were held soon after in 
Hopewell. From peculiar excitement, he slept little during these 
meetings, and returned home laboring under a degree of exhaustion 
from which he never recovered. Dr. Morrison, the author of a short 
memoir of him that appeared in the Watchman of the South, who 
had been one of his pupils and had grown up under his ministry, 



486 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

says — " It was our privilege to visit him not long before his death. 
Apparently irapressetl with the belief that the interview might be 
the last, he voluntarily and tenderly spoke of his prospects. He 
stated distinctly, and perhaps repeated it, that in facing death, he 
had no transporting views or rapturous feelings, but a firm and 
sustaining hope of heaven, founded solely on the merits of Christ. 
He alluded to the labors of his life, only to praise God for the 
tokens of his grace ; expressed entire submission to the divine will 
in reference to his dissolution, and a joyful expectation of spend- 
ing eternity in the presence and work of the Redeemer, Nothing 
could be more animating than the confidence he expressed in our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 

His death, confidently expected by himself, came at last some- 
what unexpectedly to his family, as he himself had intimated that 
it probably would. The last evening of his life, he sat up till 
his usual hour, conversing cheerfully with his family, showing no 
special symptoms of his immediate dissolution, and having walked 
about that day. About three o'clock in the morning, he called to 
his son Isaac, complaining of being cold, and uttering a few broken 
incoherent expressions, became speechless. About nine o'clock on 
the morning of Saturday, the 30th of July, 1831, his spirit passed 
away from earth to meet his Saviour in paradise. 

Dr. Robinson, of Poplar Tent, his long-tried and valued friend, 
his school-mate at Charlotte, his fellow student of theology, with 
Dr. Hall, of Iretlell, and his near neighbor and co-laborer in the 
ministry for many years, reached his house on Saturday afternoon, 
according to a previous appointment, to spend the night and preach 
at Rocky River on the following Sabbath. 

A large part of the Philadelphia congregation assembled ,with 
the' congregation of Rocky River on Sabbath, and paid the last at- 
tention to the remains of the beloved pastor. The immense church 
of Rocky River being too small for the assembly, the corpse was 
placed in front of the stand or tent, in the beautiful grove occupied 
by the congregation for sacramental meetings, and the people ga- 
thered around. In that grove, sacred from recollections of commu- 
nion services from time immemorial, and now hallowed by the first 
funeral rites of a pastor, they listened, with emotions unutterable, 
to the funeral discourse of the venerable man, who had come to visit, 
not to bury his friend ; and then followed to the grave the remains 
of the minister under whose instruction the greater part of thera 
had grown up to years of discretion, and many had obtained hopes 
of acceptance with God. 



REV. JOHN MAKEMIE WILSON. 487 

Of his nine children, five were sons ; of these, two became minis- 
ters of the gospel. One, John Wilson, the successor of Dr. Hall, 
is still living. The other, Alexander E. Wilson, died in Africa. 
On account of an impediment in his speech, supposing that he 
could not be useful as a preacher, he had pursued the study and 
commenced the practice of medicine ; but feeling the desire to spend 
and be spent in the labors of the gospel ministry increasing upon 
him, he gave up the very fair prospects by which he was surrounded 
in the pursuit of his profession, and devoted himself to the cause of 
missions in Africa, to which country the successor of Dr. W^ilson, 
the Rev. Daniel Lindley, had turned his attention as the field of la- 
bor for which he would exchange the flourishing congregation of 
Rocky River. In company with his pastor, Mr. Wilson sailed to 
Africa. After many difficulties, the mission was established among 
the Zulu tribes with fair prospects ; but the unhappy war between 
the natives and the colonists broke up the mission. Mr. Wilson 
was called by the providence of God to bury with his own 
hands his beloved wife, who had accompanied him from Rich- 
mond, Virginia, afflicted yet not dispirited by her death. The 
devoted woman having cheerfully encountered hardships to which 
she was unaccustomed, and as it appears unequal, just entered the 
little cabin built for her residence as a missionary, and found that in 
the mysterious providence of God, her life must end just when she 
supposed her missionary usefulness had commenced. Committing 
all things to the hand of Him whom she served, she was joyful in 
death, and sent to her relations and friends in America the cheering 
message that she was glad she had come to Africa, though she was 
to find so early a grave. After a visit to his native State, Mr. Wil- 
son returned to Africa, and commenced the work of a missionary, 
with unabated zeal, on the Western coast. His race was short, be- 
ing called to his reward on the * * day of * * * *, he laid 
his bones in the soil of his intended field of labor, the offering 
from Rocky River, and the earnest of future blessings in that debased 
land. 

" To comprehend how great a work Dr. Wilson performed, we 
should be able to tell into how many families he bore the words 
of instruction and consolation, to how many souls he was the in- 
strument of salvation, to how many minds he was the means of 
unsealing the fountains of knowledge; and not only how many 
ambassadors of Christ he was blessed of God in raising up, but 
how great their influence shall be for good on earth. * * * * 
No doubt, generations will pass before the witnesses of his useful- 



488 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ness below shall cease to meet him on high, and when the register 
shall be completed on earth, it will be remembered in Heaven." 

*' In the new grave-yard north of Rocky River church, to the left 
of the entrance stands the marble which marks the grave of this 
great and good man." The inscription upon the grave-stone of the 
only minister whose ashes repose with the congregation of Rocky" 

River, is : 

Sacred to the memory of the learned, pious, 

and venerable minister of the gospel. Rev. 

John M. Wilson, D.D., who departed this life, July 

30th, 1831, aged 62 years, for about 30 years the 

able, and faithful, and beloved pastor of Rocky River 

and Philadelphia churches. They thai be wise shall 

shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they 

that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. 

Dr. Wilson was about the ordinary height in person, of a remark- 
ably pleasant, cheerful countenance ; with a clear, blue, penetrating 
eye, and a fine forehead. Calmness, decision, and energy, were 
clearly indicated by his looks and movements. He was a rare com- 
bination of decision and force, with benignity and amiability. 

Says one w'ho sat long under his ministry, " It was amazing how 
he would hold the attention of his audience from beginning to the 
end of his sermon, using so little gesture, often manifesting deep 
feeling, seldom any excitement." 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 489 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FAYETTEVILLE AND IIER MINISTERS. 

The Scotch had a village called Cross Creek about a mile from 
the Cape Fear River, at head of boat navigation, soon after their 
settlements became numerous on the river. The name of the 
village took its origin from the curious fact that the Ivs^o small 
streams, Cross Creek and Blunt's Creek, the one coming from 
the South and the other from the West, met and apparently sepa- 
rated, and forming an island of some size, again united and 
flov\^ed on to the river. It was said that the streams, when swelled 
by rains, would actually cross each other in their rapid course to 
form a junction. This belief arose from the circumstance that 
floatwood coming down the stream, would sometimes shoot across 
the commingling waters in the direction of its previous course, 
and floating round the island, would fall into the united current. 
The action of a mill-dam prevents the recurrence of this phe- 
nomenon. There are persons still living who have witnessed the 
occurrence. 

In the year 1762, by an act of Assembly a town was laid out 
embracing Cross Creek, and named Campbelton, from a town of 
that name in Argyleshire, in Scotland, from which and its neigh- 
borhood many of the emigrants had come. The object of the 
Legislature was to form a trading town upon the Cape Fear, of 
which Wilmington should be the seaport, to take the produce 
from the upper part of the State, particularly the settlements upon 
the Yadkin, and prevent the traffic being diverted to the seaports 
of South Carolina. 

In 1771 a public road was opened to the Yadkin, and ultimately 
to Morganton, and various inducements held out to attract the 
course of trade from the fertile West to Fayetteville and Wil- 
mington. 

In 1784, on the occasion of the visit of the Marquis Lafayette, 
as a token of respect for his character and admiration for his 
services, the inhabitants proposed a change of name from Camp- 
bellton to Fa)^etteville. 

While the town was called by the legislative name of Camp- 
belton, and the country name of Cross Creek, the noted Flora 



490 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

McDonald made her abode here for a short time. The founda- 
tions of her residence are still seen near the bridge, on the right 
hand as you pass from the market to the court-house. 

During the war of the Revolution, Cross Creek was repeatedly 
the place of assemblage of the Scotch forces, on whichever side 
they were engaged. Here General M'Donald raised his standard 
for the king, and was joined by hundreds of his countrymen ; and 
here, one tradition says, Flora M'Donald addressed her country- 
men and clansmen and near kindred, in words of prophetic im- 
port ; while another, and probably the correct tradition, says that 
she bid adieu to her husband and relations, in arms, near her resi- 
dence in the lower part of Anson county, and was not seen in the 
camp at Cross Creek. 

The original settlers, and for a long time, all the inhabitants, 
were Scotchmen and Presbyterians ; and without disparaging other 
denominations, a few pages will be devoted to the progress of the 
Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, as a spiritual body, separate 
from political or party strife. 

There was occasional preaching at Campbellton, by Mr. Camp- 
bell, while settled near the Bluff; by Mr. McLeod, who lived a 
short time in the bounds of Barbacue congregation ; by Mr. Craw- 
ford, who also labored a few years with great acceptance among 
the Highlanders, soon after the Revolution. The first regular 
ministrations by a stated minister, were from the Rev. David Kerr, 
from the Presbytery of Temple Patrick, in Ireland. He was 
acknowledged by the Synod of the Carolinas, as a minister in 
good standing, in connection with Orange Presbytery, in the year 
1789. We have no information respecting the time of his arrival 
in North Carolina, or the place of his preaching for the first few 
years after his arrival. In the year 1791, he took his abode in 
Fayetteville, and commenced regular preaching in the Court- 
House on Sabbath, and during the week taught a classical school 
under the direction of a Board of Trustees. His salary from the 
school was about $400, and from his congregation about the same, 
making about $800 in all. The ordinance of the Supper was not 
administered in Fayetteville during his residence, and it is not 
known whether the ordinance of Baptism was or not. In the year 
1794, he left the place for a situation in the University of North 
Carolina. In a short time he removed to Lumberton, in Robe- 
son, and carried on the mercantile business while studying law. 
After commencing the practice of the law, he removed to Missis- 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 491 

sippi Territory, was made marshal, and soon after appointed judge. 
He closed his life in 1810. 

The second resident minister, John Robinson, entered upon the 
duties of teacher and preacher in the early part of the year 1800. 
Soon after his arrival he took the necessary steps for a church or- 
ganization, and ordained as elders Robert Donaldson, Duncan 
McLeran, David Anderson, Duncan McAuslin, Archibald Camp- 
bell, and Colonel John Dickson. 

On the 6th of September, 1801, the ordinance of the Lord's 
Supper was for the first time administered in Fayetteville. Pre- 
viously those who wished to enjoy that ordinance attended with 
some of the neighboring congregations. At this time a large con- 
gregation was assembled, and about one hundred and fifty persons 
sat down to the table, of whom seventeen belonged to Fayetteville, 
and the others to the surrounding congregations. 

A great change took place under the ministry of Mr. Robinson, 
in the moral and religious state of the community. He held four 
communions in the short time he performed the duties as pastor, 
and at each time some persons were added to the church. His 
salary was about $500 from the congregation, and as much from 
the school. Finding that the two offices were too burdensome for 
his strength, he proposed giving up the school and remaining as 
minister. The congregation considered themselves too weak to 
support him without the aid derived from the school ; and with 
mutual reluctance the connection was dissolved on the 29th of De- 
cember, 1801. 

After a vacancy of a year, about the 1st of January, 1803, An- 
drew Flinn, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Orange, who had 
been residing some time in Hillsborough, accepted an invitation to 
Fayetteville. His preaching proved universally acceptable. The 
regular steps having been taken, he was in the month of June of 
the same year regularly ordained to the full work of the gospel 
ministry, and installed pastor of the church. On this occasion the 
solemnity of ordination was for the first time witnessed in Fayette- 
ville, and was attended by a vast concourse of people. 

Previously to the time of Mr. Flinn, baptism had been adminis- 
tered to children at home, or in some private house. The practice 
had grown out of apparent necessity. The ministers of the gospel 
were so few, their places of preaching so irregular and so distant, 
that parents called upon the ministers to baptize their children 
whenever they could find a convenient opportunity at a private 
house. This practice prevailed so far in some districts as to 



492 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

supersede the carrying the children to a house of pubHc worship 
and devoting them before the whole congregation. Mr. Flinn set 
himself to remedy this evil. On Sabbath the 22d of April, 1804, 
the first public baptism of children in Fayetteville took place in 
the court-house, before a large assembly, where William, the 
infant son of Elisha and Mary Stedman, and George, the son of 
Paris J. and Eliza Tillinghast, were devoted to God in this ordin- 
ance. The numerous friends and relations assembled around 
these parents, and gave them the right hand of fellowship as ex- 
pressive of their cordial approbation of their good example. Tlie 
change that day accomplished has been sanctioned by the church 
and congregation to this day. 

Mr, Flinn was indefatigably active and remarkably zealous in 
his duties as pastor. His preaching was characterized by pathos 
and frequently great energy ; and many were added to the church 
during the three years of his ministry. But about the latter end 
of the year 1805, finding himself unable to perform the duties of 
teacher and pastor, he resigned his pastoral charge, and preached 
his farewell sermon from the words — "And now, brethren, I com- 
mend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to give 
you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." His 
salary from the congregation had been about $700, and from his 
school about $500 per annum. 

From this place he went to Camden, in South Carolina, and 
after laboring usefully there for a time, removed to Williamsburg 
district. From this place he was soon invited by a number of 
pious individuals in Charleston, desirous of forming a church, to 
take charge of them ; he accepted the invitation, and under his 
ministry a flourishing church was organized, known as the Second 
Presbyterian Church in Charleston. 

Mr. Flinn was a native of Sugar Creek, and in the course of 
his education for the ministry experienced the kindness of Mr. 
Alexander of Hopewell, the Secretary of the Mecklenburg Conven- 
tion. He received his first degree at the University of North 
Carolina, in the year 1799, June 13th ; and in the year 1811 was 
honored with the degree of D.D. by his Alma Mater. 

After the removal of Mr. Flinn, Mr. Robinson was induced to 
return to Fayetteville the second time. He remained three years, 
and was still more useful than during his first residence. The 
labor of the two offices becoming oppressive, he left the congrega- 
tion the latter part of December, 1808, and returned to Poplar 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 493 

Tent, where he resided till his death in 1843, honored and 
beloved. 

The successor of Mr. Robinson was Wm. Leftwich Turner, 
from Bedford, Virginia, son of the Rev. James Turner. He was 
principal of the academy and pastor of the church in Raleigh for 
some time, and was removed to Fayette ville in 1809, preaching 
his first sermon Nov. 20th, from the words, " Woe is me if I 
preach not the gospel." He opened the academy January 1st, 
1810. During that year the session commenced regular records 
and register of births, deaths, baptisms, and marriages, dating from 
Nov. 2d, 1809. This year he was blessed with a revival of reli- 
gion, and was assisted by the venerable Dr. Hall. Thirty-one 
were added to the church as fruits of this refreshing season. 
" From this time revivals, in which numbers have been brought into 
the church, have not been unfrequent in Fayetteville. 

On the 18th of Oct., 1813, Mr. Turner resigned his soul to the 
hands of his Maker, in the midst of the tears of an affectionate 
people, after pastoral services of nearly four years, and in the 
30th year of his age. In every point of view there was much 
in Mr. Turner to admire. His knowledge of men was large ; his 
discernment clear ; his sketches graphic ; his sense of the hu- 
morous or ridiculous great ; his understanding strong ; his ima- 
gination vivid ; his piety unaffected, and his heart tender. As he 
approached the waves of Jordan he exclaimed, " ! death, where 
is thy sting? O grave, where is' thy victory?" 

Early the next year, Jesse H. Turner, the brother of the de- 
ceased pastor, was induced to remain at Fayetteville. The pre 
parations which had been commenced during the life of his brother, 
for the erection of a church building, were during this first year 
of his ministry carried into more active operation. But after ob- 
taining subscriptions to a considerable amount, the work was 
delayed ; and the corner-stone was not laid till the 21st of April, 
1816. Masonic honor celebrated the event ; Dr. R. H. Chapman 
delivered an address, and Mr. Turner invoked the blessing of Al- 
mighty God. 

The house that was erected at that time, was consumed in the 
disastrous fire that swept away a large part of Fayetteville in the 
year 18 — . The present house was speedily erected on the site of 
the former, contributions to some extent having been made by the 
churches in different parts of the United States, in the spirit of 
Christian sympathy and kindness. 

Mr. Turner left the church vacant March 1st, 1819. Rev. 



494 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Wm. D. Snodgrass succeeded him in May, and was removed to 
the Independent Church in Savannah, in the month of March, 
1822. The Rev. Messrs. R. H. Morrison, James E. Hamner, 
each ministered to the Church about three years and removed. 
The Rev. Josiah Kilpatrick, a hcenliate of Orange Presbytery, 
who had grown up under his father's ministry in Third Creek 
Church, was settled in Fayetteville with fair prospects of success ; 
but after a few years' labor he was called away to his reward, 
and the church mourned their second pastor, removed by death. 

After Rev. Henry A. Roland had served the congregation three 
years, and had been removed to New York city, the services of 
the Rev. James W. Douglass were secured to this people. Among 
them were expended his last, and perhaps most successful, efforts 
as a minister of the gospel ; in the midst of zealous labors in every 
department of ministerial duty, death put his seal upon him till 
the great judgment sliall reveal and try every man's work what 
sort it is. 

It is no disparagement to any that preceded or have succeeded 
him in the ministerial office in Fayetteville to say, that his diligence 
as a pastor is pre-eminently worthy of imitation ; and the apparent 
result of his faithfulness greatly to be desired and longed after by 
every minister of the gospel. As a theologian he probably had 
many superiors in knowledge and acuteness ; but in faithfulness 
as a pastor he kept a clear conscience. Of some things, peculiar 
to him, the imitation might not be either practicable or prudent ; 
but of many others it may be said, though they appear peculiar, 
they would become all ; particularly his devotion to his office, and 
his activity in every department of benevolent enterprise. 

His happy art of interesting men in the cause of benevolence 
and religion derived no small part of its influence from the ardent 
feeling he cultivated in his own heart. He loved the cause of 
Christ because he loved Christ ; and he loved Christ because he 
is chief among ten thousand. When as a minister he called others 
to devote themselves to Christ, he called with the spirit that penned 
in his diary, March 14th, 1819, — " I will strive with all my powers 
to pull down the kingdom of Satan, and build up the kingdom of 
the Lord Jesus Christ ;" And again, — " Over the cup I solemnly 
swore to wear out every energy in building up the kingdom of 
Christ, and never to rest while there is a stronghold of Satan within 
my reach." 

Born, November 5th, 1797, of a pious mother, member of the 
Presbyterian church, in Augusta county, Virginia, James Walter 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 495 

Douglass passed the early part of his life under the instruction of 
maternal piety and example. While still a boy he became a mer- 
chant's clerk in Christiana, Delaware. On a visit to his mother, 
when about seventeen years old, he heard the Rev. R. H. Ander- 
son, minister of Bethel, urging from the pulpit " that eminence in 
piety is as attainable, and as much required now, as in the days of 
the apostles." The impressions made at this time influenced his 
whole succeeding Christian hfe. The next year, an aunt, Mrs. 
Thomson, made a solemn address to him on the subject of per- 
sonal religion, which was blessed of God to his awakening. A 
communion season which he attended soon after deepened' the im- 
pression made. On the 2d of May, 1816, he was admitted to the 
church in Christiana, of which the Rev. J. C. Latta was pastor. 
His own experience on the manner of admitting members influ- 
enced him to be particularly careful in his examination of candi- 
dates for churchmembership, in his after life. 

In October, 1816, he visited New York on business for his em- 
ployer ; his temptation and escape, in that great city, are both in 
character of the man, exhibiting his warm imagination, his excita- 
bility, and his conscientious decision of character. " I had a severe 
conflict in regard to the theatre. I had read the bill, and had suf- 
fered my imagination to be inflamed, until I could not resist. I 
started and walked for about six squares, halting and anxious all 
the time. One moment, principle and conscience would triumph ; 
and the next, the pleasure I might enjoy in a few moments blotted 
out my half-formed resolution ; I walked on ; I was getting near ; 
I turned off" into another street to make the way longer, and before 
I reached the theatre, the Lord enabled me to pursue the dictates 
of my better judgment, I turned suddenly and walked hastily 
back. At every step my resolution strengthened ; and I became 
composed, and I returned to my lodgings thankful and exulting. 
It was an important triumph to me then ; and it had in it the plea- 
sure of self-conquest. A theatre never from that moment pre- 
sented any allurements." 

What first turned his attention to the ministry is not known. 
On the 20th of October, 1817, his diary contains the following 
sentence — " I rejoice and praise God for the blessed privilege of 
looking towards the ministry of reconciliation, as the business of 
my life." His pastor spoke to him on the subject of thus spend- 
ing his life ; and his heart responded joyfully. He had no selfish 
motives that he was sensible of in these desires. And as the diffi- 
culties which lay in his path were providentially removed, he com- 



496 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

menced a course of study in preparation for the ministry in New- 
ark Academy, Delaware, December 10, 1817. In the following 
April he returned to Virginia and prosecuted his studies under the 
tuition of Dr. Chapman, tlien pastor of Bethel church, Augusta. 
Here he distinguished himself for his interest in Sabbath schools 
and his earnest desires for a Revival of Religion. 

In the fall of 1819 he became a member of the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton, and pursued his studies there for three 
years. During that time his heart became so interested in foreign 
missions, that a correspondence was opened with the secretary of 
A. B. C. F. M. ; and while circumstances of a prudential nature 
determined him at that time to decline prosecuting to their fulfil- 
ment his desires of preaching the gospel to the heathen, he never 
fully abandoned the intention of going abroad ; and, in the latter 
part of his life, he expressed himself to be waiting for Providence 
to open his way to that desired event. 

In the year 1822 he spent some time with the Rev. Asahel Net- 
tleton, during a revival in Somers, Connecticut. The impressions 
made by this visit were lasting and influential on his whole future 
life ; and in conjunction with his views respecting foreign missions, 
and the deep feeling for the wide-spread desolations of the southern 
country, determined him for a number of years to decline all offers 
for a permanent settlement in the ministry. The life of an evan- 
gelist presented to his heart untold pleasures and unmeasured 
usefulness ; and for many years and in many places he was per- 
mitted to enjoy botii these anticipations. 

During his stay at Princeton, the cultivation of pious affections 
appears never to have been forgotten. His resort to days of fasting 
was frequent ; sometimes in conjunction with his brethren, 
sometimes in unison with his mother's family, and sometimes 
alone. At one time so great was his sense of his deficiencies in 
spiritual things, that he resolved to fall upon his knees once every 
hour when awake ; and in this he persevered for some time. His 
journal has such sentiments as the following : — " I feel more de- 
termined to cultivate useful rather than shining talents, and to 
regard less the opinions of the world. ' My soul cleaveth to the 
dust.' I am languid, listless, almost torpid ; I sleep when I 
should pray ; I promise when I should perform. A procrastinating 
spirit cuts my nerves. I am holy in intention to-morrow, for it is 
no further off, but at present I am living like a fool. I should 
strive for more piety. Five times, five times during the year, at the 
Lord's table, I have engaged to follow holiness. I have lost a cousin 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 497 

of whose blood I may not be clear ; I never warned him of his 
danger as a sinner. I have studied in a new school, witnessed 
new scenes, and heard sermons unusual and impressive. Thanks 
be to God for bringing me to the bedside of my brother Turner." 

Mr. Douglass was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presby- 
tery of New Castle, at Octorara, August 14th, 1822. In the fall, 
he spent a month as a missionary on Kerr's Creek, Rockbridge 
county, Virginia ; in consequence of which twelve persons pro- 
fessed conversion. The year 1823, he passed in the congrega- 
tions of Oxford and Spring Grove, North Carolina, in a manner 
becoming one who loved to spend and be spent for his Saviour, 
and counted no labor too great in his cause. 

From Oxford, Mr. Douglass went to Murfreesborough Soon 
after his settlement in the village, there was a revival of reli- 
gion, and in' due time a church was organized of twenty-one 
members. While a resident of that village, he was, on the 21st 
of October, 1824, ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry 
by the Presbytery of Orange — " I have never," he says in his 
diary, " stood in circumstances so intensely interesting and affect- 
ing before ; and during the delivery of the charge, I found I had 
to restrain my feelings. I seemed to hear the voice of God him- 
self, my final judge declaring to me — their blood will I require at 
your hands." About his call to the ministry, he says — " The- 
many remarkable assistances which I received in prosecuting my 
preparatory studies, indicated the gbod hand of God upon me. 
Most clearly did it seem that he was helping me into the ministry. 
I have seen some fruit of my labors. My feelings incline to this 
more than to any other. I not only do not wish to be anything 
else than a minister, but I could not endure to be anything else." 

In March, 1826, he removed to Milton, on the request of the 
citizens. There was an interesting state of things, which resulted 
in the formation of a church, which ni about a year and a half 
numbered thirty members. Many in the surrounding region 
will undoubtedly, at the last day, own him as their spiritual father. 
In his diary, Nov. 26th, 1826, he says — " Never, before, have I 
enjoyed such a season of near and certain communion with God. 
I felt afraid to cease praying, to rise from my knees, or even 
to open my eyes, lest I should interrupt the current of 
heavenly consolation. Ifelt that I had experimental evidence that 
there is a God ; that religion is true ; that communion with God 
is not a visionary thing ; I rejoice, and would be thankful, that I can 
preacli about it, from a more thorough experience than ever before. 
32 



498 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

I had a foretaste of the happiness of heaven, and I could say with 
unfaltering confidence, ' thou art my God.' ' I know in whom I 
have believed.' ' Thou wilt guide me, and receive me to glory.' 
The sum of my prayer was, that God would make me holy 
and wise to win souls. 

In January, 1828, Mr. Douglass went to Briery congregation, 
which is partly in Prince Edward, and partly in Charlotte, Virgi- 
nia ; and there his labors were followed by a cheering revival of 
religion. For about nine months, with only one or two exceptions, 
hopeful conversions were reported every week, to cheer his heart. 
In the course of the year, one hundred and thirty-two were added 
to the communion. His name is dear in Briery, where his 
determination to leave them was received by the community with 
sorrow. 

Having performed an agency for the Union Theological Semi- 
nary, he took his abode in Richmond, Oct., 1829, to supply 
Shockoe Hill for a season ; and in the midst of great exertions he 
took cold in the following February, from the elfects of which a 
sea voyage became advisable. He set sail in Sept., 1830, and 
visited Europe, spending most of the time of his sojourn in Ire- 
land. His communications from that mother-land of many of the 
American churches, were read with great interest for their simpli- 
city and purity, by friends and strangers. One short extract from 
.a letter to his mother, bearing date Cork, Nov. 5th, 1830, will 
show his spirit — " The review I have taken to-day, of the way 
■by which the Lord hath led me, has been pleasant. Infinite wis- 
dom, and goodness, and mercy, have regulated its whole history. 
My present chastening, I regard as specially merciful, and it is 
working out, I trust, the peaceable and permanent fruits of 
righteousness. I have no fear of death now, and I am also get- 
ting clear of the distressing anxiety to live a while longer, to ac- 
complish different plans, on which I had set my heart. I no 
longer anxiously pray to be restored ; yet I pray the Lord of the 
harvest to send forth laborers into his harvest, and if he will accept 
me for one, and it will be more for his glory to dispose of me 
thus, than any other way, then here am I. But I leave it with 
him. I would not choose health more than sickness — life more 
than death. How do I know what would be best ? You, I fear, 
have more of painful feeling in thinking of my sickness and death. 
It is my frequent and earnest prayer, that the Lord's dealings with 
me may be blessed to your spiritual good, as well as my own. 
Sister's tears 1 am mindful of, and I trust that her tears on my 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 499 

account will work out for her, as this correction is working out 
for mC) patience, experience, and joyful hope." 

After his return to America, in the year 1831, he visited the great 
valley of the Mississippi, as an agent for the American Home Mis- 
sionary Society ; and in carrying out his plans for energetic opera- 
tions he was caught in a snow-storm, from which he suffered, more 
particularly, in the return of the bronchitis. While in the great 
valley he made a visit to St. Charles, Missouri ; and under his 
preaching, many were led to inquire what they should do to be 
saved, and about seventy were added to the church. 

In October, 1832, being somewhat recovered of his severe affec- 
tion, he went to Lexington, Virginia, to the church and congrega- 
tion in which Dr. Baxter had ministered. Here, as in other places, 
his labors was followed by great visible effects ; not only the con- 
gregation, but the college, was visited by a divine influence. After 
remaining here about a year, though earnestly desired to remain 
longer, he accepted a call from Fayetteville. Having been united 
in marriage to a lady in Richmond in the spring of that year, 
1833, he removed in the fall to Fayetteville, and there, con- 
trary to his usual habit of remaining but a short time in a congre- 
gation, he was persuaded to protract his labors, and ultimately to 
continue as the pastor of the church till his death, August, 1837. 

His activity and labors as a pastor in Fayetteville were beyond 
the strength of most men, probably, were too great for his own, and 
may have hastened his premature dissolution. He entered into 
every department of labor with energy and effect. He urged on 
foreign missions ; his example spoke all around his Presbytery, for 
domestic missions. He pressed the circulation of the Bible through- 
out Carolina, and throughout the world. He made Fayetteville the 
centre of tract operations for a large section of country j and en- 
gaged in plans for the promotion of education generally, and par- 
ticularly for the gospel ministry. In preaching, exhortation, and 
prayer, he abounded ; and in his multiplied labors he knew no rest. 
The increase of his congregation was in some degree commensurate 
with his labors. He illustrated in his life an anecdote of his own, 
which he relates under date of March, 1829, " Travelling from 
Richmond to Alexandria, I had, as a fellow stage passenger, a young 
man who was by profession a fool He was connected with the 
stage, and his business was to make sport, to play the fool. He 
acted in the same capacity to the stage passengers, and, with other 
performances, gave a song with this chorus : — ' Push along — Push 
along — Push along — Keep moving.' What an efficient ministry 



500 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

should we have if every man should adopt this chorus as his motto. 
In the pulpit, for example, when the hour arrives, begin, and don't 
drag. Don't spend five minutes in looking for a hymn or a chapter. 
Let the parts of the service succeed each other instantly. In the 
sermon, push along ; be in earnest. Keep moving until you have 
done, then quit, go home : go into your study ; visit ; do something ; 
keep moving until Saturday night, and you will see fruit. Let the 
minister keep moving, and the people will be moving." While he 
moved, the people moved. He was dying, and the church w^as 
flourishing. To a long life of quiet labors and gentle decay, he pre- 
ferred the rapid race, and expiring in a flame of love. In his ardor 
to wear out for Christ, he may, like Espy of Salisbury, have worn 
out too soon. Panting, like Whitefield, to do much for his Lord, 
like him, he desired to die w' ith his armor on. In the Providence of 
God his sun went down ere it was noon. The last the church saw 
of him, he was mounting to the meridian. There was no evening 
to his life. 

His spirit was evangelical ; his manner of preaching his own. 
In the latter, he can have no followers ; in the former, he both had 
examples, and will have followers till the end of time. In his pub- 
lic addresses, there was plainness, directness, point ; always ferven- 
cy, and often pathos. His sermons abounded less in argument than 
in facts, persuasives, and entreaties. His hearers felt that he be- 
lieved what he said, and was in earnest in saying itj and were strong- 
ly influenced to believe it too, and be equally in earnest. It was not 
that they had heard any great thing, but they had heard true things 
said in earnest, and they wished to hear the man again. Many that 
objected to his manner of delivery, and were ready to complain of 
him as too severe, would, nevertheless, listen to his fervid addresses,. 
and be moved by his pungent appeals. 

His brethren in the ministry were fond of his visits, and the 
neighboring congregations glad to see him in their midst. Free 
from envy and jealousy himself, he does not appear to have excited 
it in others. Sympathizing with his brethren, they rejoiced with 
him in his success, and partook of his spirit. Those that acted 
much with him, hardly knew how to criticise him ; even when he 
laid himself open to it, they loved him so, and held his motives and 
his feelings in such tender regard. One who knew him well says 
of him, " He was a close student ; a man of untiring industry. I 
have known him to spend the whole evening after a laborious day's 
journey, in preparing something for the pulpit or the press. His 
learning was not profound, nor his acquisitions astonishingly great, 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 501 

but everything he knew was made to subserve the cause of truth 
and righteousness. His style was very plain and simple, not desti- 
tute of polish. His pulpit performances were always carefully pre- 
pared, and short, seldom exceeding fifty minutes. In the early part 
of his ministry, he committed to memory nearly all his discourses ; 
after his return from Europe, he used notes in the pulpit. His dis- 
courses were faithful, pungent, and affectionate. The true secret of 
it all was the depth of his piety, which, in him, was an all-pervading 
principle. If I were to mention any of his faults, I should say he 
was too confiding. They that turn many to righteousness shall 
shine as the stars, for ever and ever." 

His death was unexpected, though he had been some time un- 
well. He seemed to compose himself to sleep ; and was roused to 
activity no more. Fayetteville was astonished and overwhelmed at 
his death -, and in her grief, multitudes mingled their tears. 



FAYETTEVILLE FRESBYTERY. 

In the fall of 1812, among the preliminary steps, to form, from the 
Synod of the Carolinas, two Synods ; 1st, the Synod of North 
Carolina, and 2d, the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia ; the 
Presbytery of Orange was divided, and the following members set 
off to form the Presbytery of Fayetteville, viz. : Samuel Stanford, 
Robert Tate, William L. Turner, Malcolm McNair, Murdock Mc- 
Millan, John Mclntyre, William B. Meroney, Allan McDougal, and 
William Peacock. Of these, Messrs. Tate and Mclntyre only are 
living, both in advanced years of life and their ministry. 

The bounds of this Presbytery contain the fields of labor of the 
two earliest settled Presbyterian preachers in North Carolina ; 
Hugh McAden, who preached for some years in Duplin and New 
Hanover, and James Campbell, who lived in Cumberland county, 
and was the minister for the Scotch. 

Something has been said of Stanford, Tate, Turner, and Mero- 
ney. Something ought to be said of the others. Malcolm McNair 
was born in Robeson county, the 24th of August, 1776 ; and was 
reared religiously by pious parents. After receiving what instruc- 
tion could be imparted by Mr. Nelson, the teacher in the neighbor- 
hood, he was sent to Dr. McCorkle's school in Rowan, for a time ; 
and finished his course of study, classical and theological, with Dr. 
Caldwell of Guilford, at whose school he became hopefully pious. 
On the 25th of October, 1799, he was taken under care of the 



502 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Presbytery of Orange, at Buffalo church ; and on the 27th of March, 
1801, at Barbacue church, Cumberland county, he was licensed to 
preach the gospel. At the same time and place, six companions of 
his study were also licensed, viz. : Duncan Brown, Mmdock Mur- 
phy, John Matthews, Murdock McMillan, Hugh Shaw, and Ezekiei 
B. Currie ; three of whom are still living. In 1803, June 2d, he 
was ordained pastor of Centre and Ashpole churches in Robeson 
County, and Laurel Hill, in Richmond county, and in preaching to 
these congregations and others in the neighborhood he passed his 
life, which was brought to a close on the 4th of August, 1822. 

His labors were greatly blessed in the hopeful conversion of many 
souls. Dr. Hall makes a most favorable mention of him in his re- 
port to Synod, as appears in their records for 1810. In his fune- 
ral sermon, by Rev. Colin Mclver, it is said, " There was something 
in his mode of address so sweetly captivating, so irresistibly allur- 
ing, that his preaching was always listened to with deep attention, 
even by those who, on vai'ious occasions, scrupled not to speak of 
the revival, either as the offspring of misguided zeal, or as the result 
of diabolical agency. In his preaching, he might truly be called 
an eloquent man ; and his eloquence was not of the vehement, but 
of the persuasive kind. I can truly say, that for suavity of manners^ 
generosity, and the kindly affections, for gentleness, meekness, and 
patience, I have seldom seen him equalled, and never excelled. He 
was a great lover of peace, and a punctual member of the judica- 
tories of the church ; in both of these things, he kept a good con- 
science. His end was peace. 

Mr. Mclntyre still lives, an example of active and zealous old 
age. A Scotch shepherd, emigrating to South Carolina, bereft of 
his family, and a subject of the Revival that spread over the country 
from 1802 and onward, he devoted himself to the ministry, and at 
the age of forty-four years, and a second time a^widower, com- 
menced his Latin Grammar with Mr. McMillan, who preached in 
Richmond and Moore counties, and taught a classical school. With 
prayer and patience he persevered in his course till he passed, on 
examination, in his Horace and Greek Testament, to the satisfaction 
of Orange Presbytery, from w^hom he received license to preach. 
God crowned his patience and perseverance with abundant success. 
He was first settled in Cumberland. Dr. Hall mentions him in his 
report with warm approbation. 

Mr. McMillan, educated much asM'Nairhadbeen, and licensed at the 
same time, settled in Moore County, in the neighborhood of his fel- 
low student, and was blessed in his labors. M'Nair was suaviter in 



FAYETTEVILLE AND HER MINISTERS. 503 

modo, M'Millan, /or^/fer in re. He is honorably mentioned by Dr. 
Hall in his report to Synod, in 1810. After laboring some years 
in Carolina, he removed to the West. 

William Peacock was born in Glasgow, North Britain, Aug. 25th, 
1768. His father dying while he was very young, he was trained 
up by a pious mother, of whom he used to say that she often took 
him, with her, to the closet, and there he had often heard her pray. 
In his twenty-first year, he came to Fayetteville as a clerk in the 
employment of a merchant. Some time after, he opened a store on 
the Pedee, in Montgomery county, and prospered in his business. 
During the Great Revival that spread over Carolina from 1802 and 
onward, he became hopefully converted to God, and devoted himself 
to the work of the ministry. The usual course of education was 
dispensed with in his case, and he was received under the care of the 
Presbytery of Orange in April, 1810, and, in the fall, licensed to 
preach ; and, in the course of the next year, ordained Pastor of 
Sharon church, near his dwelling. Here he labored successfully 
till the close of his life, Sept., 1830. A man of middlingstature, 
well built, stout and muscular — of a good mind and ardent feelings, 
he dwelt with simplicity and force on the great truths of Christian 
doctrine and practice. Brought up in the strict order of Scotch 
Presbyterianism, he was, in his ministerial life, ex animo, a Presby- 
terian. His labors were blessed, and the bounds of his church 
greatly enlarged. He died a sa good man dies ; — and his end was 
peace. 

Mr. M'Dougald passed his ministerial life serving the congrega- 
tions along the Cape Fear and its w^aters — principally Bluff and Tir- 
zah. His labors were very acceptable, till the infirmities of age 
disabled him for active service. He passed to his reward in a good 
old age. 



504 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 

Besides the honor of being the seat of the Convention, in 1775_, 
that issued the first Declaration of Independence, Charlotte, in 
Mecklenburg, North Carolina, has claims upon posterity both 
singular and meritorious. The centre of a fertile and populous 
county, she was doomed to see the blood of her sons shed, 
and the Declaration of Independence of all foreign dominion, 
maintained at the point of the British bayonet. 

After the battle of Camden, Charlotte, that had been a rallying 
place for the American forces, became designated as the head- 
quarters of the British army. The resistance made by the few 
troops that could be hastily assembled, was in the hope of delay- 
ing and intimidating, rather than in the expectation of successfully 
opposing the advance of the enemy. 

Tarlcton in his " History of the Southern Campaign, 1780 and 
1781," page 159, says, "Earl Cornwallis moved forward as soon 
as the legion under Major Hanger joined him. A party of militia 
fired at the advanced dragoons and light infantry as they entered 
the town, and a more considerable body appeared drawn up near 
the court-house. The conduct of the Americans created suspi- 
cion in the British ; an ambuscade was apprehended by the light 
troops, who moved forward for some time with great circumspec- 
tion ; a charge of cavalry under Major Hanger dissipated this ill- 
grounded jealousy, and totally dispersed the militia. The pursuit 
lasted some time, and about thirty of the enemy were killed and 
taken. 

" The King's troops did not come out of this skirmish unhurt ; 
Major Hanger, and Captains Campbell and McDonald were 
wounded, and twelve non-commissioned officers and men were 
killed and wounded." 

The position of Charlotte, however favorable to the Americans, 
was anything but agreeable to the Earl Cornwallis. He pos- 
sessed in the adjacent country a few friends and timid depend- 
ents. The panic that had gone over South Carolina after the 
success of the British in that State, and had driven multitudes to 



CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 505 

" take protection," in despair of self-preservation, had in some 
degree extended itself to North Carolina ; and on the approach of 
the enemy, some families " took protection " from the spoliations 
of the foraging parties. 

But notwithstanding the terror of his arms, his lordship found; 
his situation in Charlotte, which became his head-quarters on the 
26th of September, to be distressing and humiliating. The reasons 
given by Tarleton are both striking and sufficient. He says, 
" Charlotte town afforded some conveniences blended with great 
disadvantages. The mills in its neighborhood were supposed of 
sufficient consequence to render it for the present an eligible posi- 
tion, and in future a necessary post when the army advanced. 
But the aptness of its intermediate situation between Camden and 
Salisbury, and the quantity of its mills, did not counterbalance its 
defects." 

" It was evident, and had been frequently mentioned to the 
king's officers, that the counties of Mecklenburg and Rohan" 
(Rowan) " were more hostile to England than any others in America. 
The vigilance and animosity of these surrounding districts checked 
the exertions of the well-affected, and totally destroyed all com- 
munication between the king^s troops and the loyalists in other 
parts of the province. No British commander could obtain any 
information in that position which would facilitate his designs, or 
guide his future conduct." 

A higher encomium of the principles and patriotism of the Irish, 
or rather Scotch-Irish, settlements in Carolina could not have been 
given. It is the testimony of an eye-witness, and he an inveterate 
enemy, with the best means of information. Of the town and its 
environs, he goes on to say — " the town and its environs abounded 
with inveterate enemies. The plantations in the neighborhood 
were small and uncultivated ; the road narrow and crossed in every 
direction ; and the whole face of the country covered with close 
and thick woods. In addition to these disadvantages, no estimation 
could be made of the sentiments of half the inhabitants of North 
Carolina, whilst the royal army remained at Charlotte." 

After speaking of the almost entire impossibility of obtaining 
correct information concerning the movements of the Governor 
and Assembly, — the preparations of the militia, — and the forces 
and designs of the Continentals, Tarleton dwells at large upon the 
difficulty of obtaining provisions while he remained in Charlotte. 
The same difficulty, though not always to the same degree, at- 
tended the British army during the whole campaign in North Care- 



506 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

lina. He says — " the foraging parties were every day harassed by 
the inhabitants, who did not remain at home to receive payment for 
the product of their plantations, but generally fired from covert 
places, to annoy the British detachments. Ineffectual attempts 
were made upon convoys coming from Camden, and the intermediate 
post at Blair's Mill — but individuals with expresses were frequently 
murdered. An attack was directed against the piquet at Polk's 
Mill, two miles from the town. The Americans were gallantly 
received by Lieut. Guyon, of the 23d regiment : and the fire of 
his party, from a loopholed building adjoining the mill, repulsed 
the assailants." 

" Notwithstanding the different checks and losses sustained by the 
militia of the district, they continued their hostilities with unwea- 
ried perseverance ; and the British troops were so effectually block- 
aded in their present position, that very few out of a great many 
messengers could reach Charlottetown, in the beginning of Octo- 
ber, to give intelligence of Ferguson's situation." 

The repulse at Mclntire's is a good illustration of what Tarlton 
says in these quotations. The commander in Charlotte having 
heard of the abundant supply of grain and fodder that might be 
obtained from the rebel neighborhood, some seven miles from 
Charlotte, on the road to Beattie's Ford, sends out a force sufficient, 
as was supposed, to overawe the neighborhood, accompanied with 
a sufficient train of baggage wagons to bring in the necessary sup- 
plies. A lad, who was ploughing a field by the road side, upon 
seeing the advance of the soldiers, leaves his plough, mounts his 
horse and gallops through bye-paths to give notice to the inhabit- 
ants that a foraging party was out. They, of course, fled and 
spread the alarm, riding away their horses, and hiding or removing 
their most valuable effects. 

The family at Mr. Mclntire's had just time to escape ; the men 
in the fields armed themselves and took to the woods ; and the 
women and servants rode off towards the residences of neighbors, 
whose houses were supposed to be out of the track of this armed 
force ; the house and all the property were left to the mercy of the 
foragers. 

The neighboring men, conjecturing the object of the party, ral- 
lied around Mclntire's farm, according to the rules which had been 
voluntarily adopted, that neighbors would help each other ; and 
about a dozen of them, armed with rifles and divided into com- 
panies of two, lay concealed in the woods in sight of the house, 
not far from each other. 



CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 507 

While lying there, they witnessed the advance of the British, — 
saw them pause on the brow of the hill near the branch and recon- 
noitre, and then slowly advance to the house. The dragoons dis- 
mounted and fastened their horses, and the work of plunder began. 
Harnessing some of their horses to the farm wagons they began to 
load them with forage ; and when the baggage wagons arrived they 
proceeded to load them with corn and oats. While this was doing 
the soldiers were running down and catching the poultry in the 
yard, and killing pigs and calves. By accident some of them over- 
set the beehives ranged by the garden fence, and the enraged in- 
sects fell in fury upon the soldiery. The scene became one of 
uproar and boisterous merriment. The commander of the forces, 
a portly florid Englishman, stood in the door with one hand on each 
post, enjoying the scene of plunder, and laughing at the antics of 
the soldiers discomfitted by the bees. 

The owner and his neighbors had approached within rifle shot of 
the house, under cover of the woods, and were exasperated wit- 
nesses of the merry plunder of the foragers. At length one of 
them cried out — '* Boys, I can't stand this — I take the captain. 
Every one choose his man and look to yourselves." Quick as his 
word, the sharp crack of his rifle was heard ; and tlie captain fell 
from the doorway. The rifles of the other eleven answered in 
quick succession ; and nine men and two horses lay upon the 
ground. 

The trumpet sounded a recall ;' and the dragoons hastened to 
form a line. The assailants shifted their position, and from another 
direction, from a skirt of woods, poured in another straggling fire, 
with fatal accuracy. The dragoons began a pursuit, and set on the 
dogs ; but soon a fire from another direction alarmed them, lest 
they were surrounded. The dogs came on the trail of these re- 
treating men, and the leading one sprung upon the heels of a man 
who had just discharged his rifle. A pistol-shot laid him dead ; 
and the other dogs, coming up to him, paused, gave a howl, and 
returned. The alarm became general, and the troops hastened 
their retreat, attempting to carry off the loaded wagons. But the 
more distant neighbors had now ralHed, and the woods echoed on 
all sides with the rifles and guns of concealed enemies. The lead- 
ing horses of the wagons were some of them shot down before they 
ascended the hill by the branch, and the road was blocked up ; and 
the retreat became a scene of confusion in spite of the discipline of 
the British soldiers, who drew up in battle array and offered fight 
to the invisible enemy that only changed their ground and renewed 



508 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

their fire. In full belief that they were assailed by a numerous 
foe, and disappointed of their forage, they returned to camp — 
swearing that every bush on the road concealed a rebel. 

The men that brought about this retreat were well known in 
Mecklenburg. One of them, whose residence was not far from 
the spot, now lies in the burying-ground in Charlotte, with the 
following inscription on the marble slab that covers his grave 

Sacred 
' To the 

MEMORY OF 

MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE GRAHAM, 

WHO DIED 

On the 29th of March, 1826, 
in the 68th year of his age. 

He lived naore than half a century in the vicinity of 

This place, and was a zealous and active defender of his 

country's rights, 

in the 

revolutionary war, 

and one of the gallant twelve who dared to attack, 

and actually drove 400 British troops at Mclntire's 

7 miles North of Charlotte, 

on the 3d of October, 17S0. 

GEORGE GRAHAM filled many high and responsible 

Public Trusts, 

the duties of which he discharged with fidelity. 

He was the people's friend, not their fetterer, 

and uniformly engaged the 

unlimited CONFIDENCE 

and respect of his 

FELLOW CITIZENS. 

This George Graham is the same person that is mentioned by 
General Joseph Graham, as his brother that was sent to Salisbury 
by the committee of Mecklenburg, to bring the two delinquents 
to justice. The concurrent voice of tradition is that he merited 
all tliat is said of him on his tomb stone. 

It has been thought by some that Tarleton, in his Memoirs of the 
Southern Campaigns, was more unfavorable to LordCornwallis than 
justice would require ; and while he had no inducement to favor 
in any way the American cause, he magnified his lordship's blun- 
ders and misfortunes. Another English writer, who was a pro- 
fessed friend of Cornwallis, and was surgeon in his army through 
the whole southern war, and had the best means of information, 
giving an account of the taking of Charlotte, thus writes : — 



CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 509 

" And Charlotte was taken possession of after a slight resistance 
by the militia, towards the end of September. At this period, 
Major Hanger commanded the legion. Colonel Tarleton being ill. 
In the centre of Charlotte, intersecting the two principal streets, 
stood a large brick building, the upper part being the Court-House, 
and the lower part the Market-House. Behind the shambles, a 
few Americans on horseback had placed themselves. The legion 
was ordered to drive them off ; but upon receving a fire from be- 
hind the stalls, this corps fell back. Lord Cornwallis rode up in 
person and made use of these words : ' Legion, remember you 
have everything to lose but nothing to, gain ;^ alluding, it is sup- 
posed, to the former reputation of this corps. Webster's brigade 
moved on, drove the Americans from behind the Court-House, the 
legion then pursued them ; but the whole of the British army was 
actually kept at bay for some minutes, by a few mounted Ameri- 
cans, not exceeding twenty in number." — Steadman's History of 
the American War, vol. ii., p. 217. 

This writer then goes on to describe the difficulties of obtainino- 
provisions, much in the same terms as Tarleton has done in the 
preceding quotations ; and adds, in a copious note, remarks, of 
which the following are a part : " In Colonel Polk's mill were 
found 28,000, and a quantity of wheat. There were several large 
well cultivated farms in the neighborhood of Charlotte. An abun- 
dance of cattle, few sheep ; the cattle mostly milch cows, or cows 
with calf, which, at that season of the year, was the best beef. 
When the army was at Charlotte, we killed, upon average, 100 
head per day. The leanness of the cattle will account for the 
numbers killed each day. In one day no less than 37 cows in 
calf." 

" At this period the Royal army was supported by Lord Raw- 
don's moving with one half of the army one day, and Col. Webster 
with the other half the next day, as a covering party to protect the 
foraging parties and cattle drivers." It is not improbable the affair 
at Mclntire's compelled them to move with greater forces when 
they wished to gather forage. The writer then proceeds to state, 
rtiat the reason the southern sections of the country suffered so much 
in the campaign was, that so much of their wealth lay in cattle, 
and so much of their work in the lower sections was done by 
negroes. 

The British army lay encamped, the short time tiiey passed at 
Charlotte, on a p\ain, south of the town, about midway to the place 
where the court was first held, then occupied by Mr. Thomas 



510 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Spratt, now by Major Morrow, and on the right hand of the road 
from llie village ; and the general's head-quarters, a white house 
on the southeast corner from the old Court-House, now the second 
house from the corner. 

From all these circumstances combined, as mentioned by the 
English writers, and handed down by tradition, we cease to won- 
der that Cornwallis called Charlotte the "hornets' nest," and that, 
unwilling to pay for supplies with so much English '" blood," after 
the fatal battle of King's Mountain became known to him, his 
lordship determined to leave this vexatious post. To prevent an- 
noyance, he chose to depart suddenly, and in the night. Mr. 
McCafferty, a man of wealth and standing, a Scotchman, and re- 
sident in Charlotte, was chosen as their guide to lead them by the 
upper and nearest route to Sovith Carolina. After so bewildering the 
army in the swamps, that much of their baggage was lost, he con- 
trived to escape, and leave the army to find their way by the re- 
turning light of day. 

Colonel Thomas Polk, so favorably mentioned in the histoiy of 
the declarations, owned property in and around Charlotte. His 
mill was between two and three miles south of the village, and is 
now called Bissell's. His body lies interred in the graveyard of 
the village. Over his grave and that of his wife Susanna, his son 
William Polk, late of Raleigh, erected a marble slab, a memorial 
of his resting-place. 

The Polk family came early to Mecklenburg, and in the time 
of the Revolution were numerous, and some of them very wealthy. 
They resided, part of them, in the bounds of Sugar Creek congre- 
gation ; and part of them in Providence. Among them was Ezekiel 
Polk, the grandfather of James K. Polk, President of the United 
States. The descendants have all emigrated from the county, 
mostly to Tennessee, or States further south. 

Thomas Spratt, at whose house the court was first held, is said 
to have been the first man that moved his family, on wheels, across 
the Yadkin. He stopped first on the Rocky River ; but being 
disturbed by the Indians he removed to the spot, near to Charlotte, 
where he died, and lies buried in the angle of the woods, near his 
dwelling. There appears to have been at this place a burying- 
ground as old as that of Sugar Creek, now entirely grown over 
with trees. The forests here, as elsewhere, seem to strive to eradi- 
cate the footsteps of man, and resume their dominion. 

Garden, in his anecdotes of the American Revolution, says : — 
" Nor were the ladies in Mecklenburg in any degree inferior in 



CHARLOTTE AND HER RECOLLECTIONS. 511 

enthusiasm to the male population. I find in the South Carolina 
and American General Gazette, from the 2d to the 9th of Febru- 
ary, the following paragraph : — ' The young ladies of the best 
famihes of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, have entered 
into a voluntaiy association that they will not receive the addresses 
of any young gentleman at that place, except the brave volunteers 
who served in the expedition to South Carolina, and assisted in 
subduing the Scovalite insurgents. The ladies being of opinion 
that such persons as stay loitering at home, when the important 
calls of the country demand their military services abroad, must 
certainly be destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave, 
manly spirit which would qualify them to be the defenders and 
guardians of the fair sex,' 

" The ladies of the adjoining county of Rowan have desired 
the plan of a similar association to be drawn up and prepared for 
signature." 



512 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 

" Many a day have I worked with these hands to help Charley 

C through college," said old Mrs. Skillington exultingly, and 

somewhat mournfully, while her brother was running his career in 
Philadelphia, before his removal to Kentucky to commence his 
labors as pioneer of medical schools in the West, as his father had 
been in the settlement of Cabarrus county. North Carolina ; "many 
a day have I worked for Charley when we lived there," pointing 
to a log framed house, the shell of which now stands defying 
the wind and storm, and wasting of desertion, about a rifle-shot 
Avest of Poplar Tent meeting-house ; " and I don't mind the 
work, for we all liked Charley." 

The old lady unconsciously revealed the sentiments oi hundreds 
of mothers and sisters of the Scotch-Irish and Scotch settlers in 
Virginia and the Carolinas. An education, — knowledge of things 
human and divine, they prized beyond all price in their leaders and 
teachers ; and craved its possession for their husbands, and bro- 
thers, and sons. ,The Spartan mothers gloried in the bravery of 
their husbands and fathers, and demanded it in their sons. " Bring 
me this, or be brought back upon it," said one, as she gave her son 
a shield to go out to battle. These Presbyterian mothers gloried 
in the enterprise, and religion, and knowledge, and purity of their 
husbands and children, and would forego comforts and endure 
toil that their sons might be well instructed, enterprising men. 

When we look over the beautiful farms and plantations these 
early settlers bequeathed to their children, it might seem as if large 
possessions were the inviting cause and principal object of the 
emigrants to this wilderness. Undoubtedly the desire of posses- 
sion of property had its influence with all ; and why should not 
honest, energetic poor people desire a place to enjoy their labor, 
not as tenants at will, but as fee-simple owners of the soil by the 
best of rights ? and it is probable it was tlie ruling feeling of some, 
who could not get above the craving desire of human nature, and 
knew nothing better than wealth, c But with many, and they the 
influential men and women, the desire of knowledge was cherished 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 513 

before a competence was obtained, or the labors of a first settle- 
ment overcome. Almost invariably as soon as a neighborhood 
vi^as settled, preparations were made for the preaching of the gos- 
pel by a regular stated pastor ; and wherever a pastor was lo- 
cated, in that congregation there was a classical school, — as in 
Sugar Creek, Poplar Tent, Centre, Bethany, Buffalo, Thyatira, 
Grove, Wilmington, and the churches occupied by Pattillo in 
Orange and Granville. . 

Of all these, the one in the bounds of Sugar Creek appears to 
have been the oldest. The time of its commencement is not cer- 
tainly known ; ' but it appears to have been in successful operation 
under Mr. Joseph Alexander, who for a time supplied the congre- 
gation after the death of Mr. Craighead in 1766, an eminent 
teacher and preacher, whose labors for a short time in North 
Carolina, and for a long period in South Carolina, entitled him to 
a kind remembrance by the churches. Vigorous efforts were made 
to elevate this school to the rank and usefulness of a college ; and 
about the year 1770, a charter was obtained from the Colonial 
Legislature, conferring the title and privileges, without any endow- 
ment from the Province, under the name of Queen's Museum.^ 
This charter was set aside by the king and council, and amended, 
and a second time granted by the Colonial Legislature in 1771, and 
a second time repealed by the king, hy proclamation. "And," says 
a writer in the Magazine of the University of North Carolina, 
" why was this ? An easy answer'is found in the third section of 
the act for incroporating the school at Newbern, and afterwards 
engi-afted upon the act incorporating the Edenton Academy 
(which were the only two schools incorporated before Quaen's 
College), compared with the character of the leading men of 
Mecklenburg, and the fact that several of the trustees of the New 
College were Presbyterian ministers. ) No compliments to his 
queen could render whigs in politics, and Presbyterians in religion, 
acceptable to George IIL A college, under such auspices, was 
too well calculated to ensure the growth of the nuvierous demo- 
cracy.'''' 

The section referred to in the charter of the Newbern school, is 
in these words — ^^ Provided always, that no person shall be pe?'- 
mitted to be master of said school, but ivho is of the Established 
Chu7'ch of England, and who, at the recommendation of the trus- - 
tees or directors, or the majority of them, shall be duly licensed by 
the govei'nor or commander-in-chief for the time being.^1 

Queen's Museum flourished without a charier. Its hall was ] 
33 



514 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the place of meeting of literary societies, and political clubs, in 
the times preceding the Revolution. jThe king's fears, that the 
college would be a fountain of republicanism, were realized in the 
institution, and probably his rejection of the charter much hasten- 
ed, and increased, the dreaded evil. The debates, preceding the 
Mecklenburg Declaration, were held in the hall ; and every 
reader can judge of the merits of that famous document. 

That the students were busily engaged in literary pursuits 
appears from the following document, the original of which is in 
the hands of the Rev. Mr. Adams of Third Creek. 

" The Moderator and Members of Union Society 
in Queen's Museum, Charlotte, to all whom these presents may 
come, with 

Peace and Safety. 

Be it hereby certified that we have bestowed upon 
James McEwen this Diploma in testimony of his having been 
a member of our society, and of his having through the whole 
time of our connection together deported himself in such manner 
as to merit our full approbation, both as a faithful assistant in 
school, and a regular, useful member of society. 

" Of the above let our names underwritten be a witness. 
*' Given in Union Society, at the 



stated meeting in the Hall of 
Queen's Museum, Charlotte. 



Jno. Kerr, Moderator. 
Handy Harris, Clerk. 



on Friday, 27th of Septem- } Wm. Humphrey, 
ber, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred 
and seventy-six." 



Thos. Henderson, > Memb's. 
Fr'cis, Cummins, 



After the Revolution had commenced, the Legislature of North 
Carolina granted a charter to this institution under the name of 
Liberty Hall Academy. The preamble of an act for incoq^orating 
the president and trustees, which was passed April, 1777, is as 
follows : " Whereas the proper education of youth in this infant 
country is highly necessary, and would answer the most valuable 
and beneficial purposes to this State and the good people thereof ; 
and whereas a very promising experiment liath been made at a 
seminary in the county of Mecklenburg, and a number of youths 
there taught have made great advancements in the knowledge of 
the learned languages, and in the rudiments of the arts and 
sciences, in the course of a regular and finished education, which 
they have since completed at various colleges in different parts of 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 515 

America ; and whereas the seminary aforesaid, and the several 
Jteachers who have successfully taught and presided therein, have 
hitherto been almost wholly supported by private subscriptions ; 
in order therefore that said subscriptions and other gratuities may 
he legally possessed and duly apphed, and the said seminary by 
the name of Liberty Hall may become more extensively and 
generally useful for the encouragement of liberal knowledge in 
languages, arts, and sciences, and for diffusing the great advanta- 
ges of education upon more liberal, easy, and general terms ;" 
Jhcrefore, &c. 

The following persons were named trustees, viz. : — Isaac Alex- 
ander, M.D,, president, Thomas Polk, Thomas Neal, Abraham 
Alexander, Waightstill Avery, Ephraim Brevard, M.D., John 
Simpson, Adlai Osborne, John McKnitt Alexander, and the Rev. 
Messrs. David Caldwell, James Edmonds, Thomas Reese, 
Samuel E. McCorkie, Thomas Harris McCaule, and James Hall. 

The academy received no funds from the State, and no further 
patronage than this charter. It was entirely under the direction of 
Presbyterians, and under the supervision of Orange Presbytery. 
At the time the charter was obtained the institution was under the 
■care of Dr. Isaac V. Alexander, who continued to preside over it 
till some time in the year 1778. 

From a manuscript in the University of North Carolina, drawn 
up by Adlai Osborne, one of the trustees, it appears the first meet- 
ing of the trustees was held in Charlotte, January 3d, 1778. At 
this meeting, Isaac Alexander, M.D,, Ephraim Brevard, M.D., 
and Rev. Thomas Harris McCaule were appointed a committee to 
frame a system of laws for the government of the academy ; and 
also to purchase the lots and improvements belonging to Colonel 
Thomas Polk, for which they were to pay him £920 ; and prepa- 
rations were made to build an additional frame-house. The salary 
of the president was fixed at £195, to be occasionally increased, 
according to the prices of provisions, which were then greatly 
fluctuating, owing to the war. 

In the month of April, 1778, the system of laws drawn up by 
the committee was adopted without any material alteration. The 
course of study marked out was similar to that prescribed for the 
University of North Carolina, though somewhat more Limited. 
Overtures were made to Rev. Alexander McWhortcr, of New- 
Jersey, so favorably known to the churches, by his visit in 1764 
and '5, with the Rev. EliJm Spencer, and also by a more recent 
visit made to the Southern country, to encourage the inhabitants 



516 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in the cause of Independence, to succeed Dr. Alexander in the 
presidency. 

There is still extant a certificate of scholarship granted by the 
Board, as the right of granting degrees had not been given them, 
preserved by John H. Graham, at Vesuvius Furnace, in Lincoln 
county, the residence of General Graham. 

State of North Carolina, ) 
Mecklenburg county. S 

" This is to certify that, Mr. John Graham hath been a student 
in the Academy of Liberty Hall in the State and county above 
mentioned, the space of four years preceding the date hereof, that 
his whole deportment during his residence there was perfectly 
regular ; that he prosecuted his studies with dihgence, and made 
such acquisitions both in the languages and scientific learning as 
gave entire satisfaction to his teacher — And he is hereby recom- 
mended to the friendly notice and regard of all lovers of Religion 
and Literature wherever he comes. In Testimony of which this 
is given at Liberty Hall, this 22d of November, 1778, and 
signed by Isaac V. Alexander, President, 

Ephraim Brevard, ) m 

A A > Inistces. 

Abraham Alexander, S 

Dr. M'Whorter having, on account of the deranged state of his 
affairs, declined accepting the Presidency, Mr. Robert Brownfield 
was appointed, and agreed to accept for one year. The next year 
the invitation to Dr. M'Whorter was renew^ed, and a committee 
consisting of Rev. Samuel E. M'Corkle and Dr. Brevard was sent 
to New Jersey to wait, upon him ; and in the event of his still de- 
clining, to consult Dr. Witherspoon and Professor Houston, of 
Princeton College, respecting some otlier fit person for the office^ 
to whom the Presidency should be offered. In compliance with 
this second invitation Dr. M'Whorter removed to Charlotte. But, 
owing to the invasion of the Carohnas, 1780, the operations of the 
Academy w^ere suspended and not resumed during the war. After 
a short stay in Carolina, Dr. M'Whorter returned to New Jersey. 

During the occupation of Charlotte by the forces of Cornwallis, 
Liberty Hall, which stood upon the ground now occupied by the 
dwelling house of Mr. Julius Alexander, was used as a hospital, 
and greatly defaced and injured. The numerous graves in the rear 
of the Academy, upon the departure of the British army, was one 
evidence of their great loss in this hostile county. 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 517 

After the peace, Mr. Thomas Henderson, who had been edu- 
cated at the Academy, set up a High School, which he carried 
on with great reputation for a number of years. And from that 
day to this Charlotte has been favored with academies and female 
seminaries. But the pre-eminence of Liberty Hall, as supplying 
the place of a college, for the South, was transferred to Mount 
Zion College, in Winnsborough, South Carolina, over which the 
Rev. Thomas H. McCaule, the pastor of Centre congregation for 
some years, and trustee of Liberty Hall, presided. This was 
owing to the liberality and activity of some pious persons by the 
name of Winn, who gave liberally in the cause of literature and 
religion, and exerted themselves for a college, while the friends of 
literature, and science, and religion, in North Carolina, relaxed 
their efforts for a college in their own State. 

Mount Zion college, in Winnsborough, over which the popular 
McCaule presided, being near, and the college in Princeton, New 
Jersey, with which Professor Houston from North Carolina was 
connected, under the Presidents Wilherspoon and Smith, had so 
attracted public attention, the Presbyterians of North Carolina 
made no effort for a college under their own care and patronage, 
for many years. In this they miscalculated more than in any other 
matter of importance in which they were called to act. Whatever 
was the motive, the event shows the mistake. 

Classical schools of a high order were numerous after the Re- 
volutionary war, under the direction of Presbyterian clergymen. 
The high school in Charlotte has been continued, in some form, 
till the present time. (Dr. Caldwell continued his in Guilford, with 
an interruption during the war, till his death. Dr. McCorkle had 
a flourishing school in Rowan, which was continued in Salisbury. 
Poplar Tent has been favored with one from the time of the Revo- 
lution till near the close of Dr. Robinson's life, with some inter- 
mission. Rocky River had a famous one under Dr. Wilson ; and 
Bethany under Dr. Hall. Sugar Creek enjoyed one for some time 
under Caldwell. There was a flourishing one in Chatham under 
the Rev. Wilham Bingham, and one in Burke. Providence has 
been particularly favored, as also Fayetteville, and the Grove, in 
Duplin county, in all which there have been a succession of 
classical teachers. In these, classical instruction of a high order 
was imported, both before and since the establishment of the Uni- 
versity. 

Common schools were numerous. Public opinion in the Pres- 
byterian settlements demanded that all children should be taught 



518 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

to read ; and, as Dr. McRee tells us, not to be able to repeat the 
>Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly was a mark of 
vulgarity among the people who claimed a natural equality. From 
the great efforts made by Presbyterian pastors and missionaries in 
establishing schools and promoting education among the people at 
large, and from the deep conviction of the importance of some de- 
gree of education impressed upon the hearts of Presbyterian 
families, it came to be the fact, that in the bounds of the original 
Presbyterian settlements in North Carolina, very few persons 
grew up unable to read intelligibly. By the change wrought in 
the population of some sections by emigration to the west and 
south, and the immigration of other families differently disposed 
on the subject of religion and education, a greater proportion are 
now unable to read than in the commencement of this century. 
This is believed to be the fact, though there are no certain 
statistics that will completely establish it, from want of returns 
duly made by authority the latter part of last century. Many a 
parent that felt the necessity of his child's being able to repeat the 
Catechism when young, would make efforts for his being taught to 
read he never would have thought of making but for that necessity. 
The religious feeling is the most friendly to education in all cir- 
cumstances, and most diffusive of its benefits. 

Since the establishment of the university of the State, the pre- 
ponderance of classical schools has not been so entirely in the 
Presbyterian church ; though they are undoubtedly far ahead in 
the religious and patriotic work of training the youth of the coun- 
try to a high degree of science and literature. 

Besides the numerous classical schools in different parts of the 
church, the Presbyterians, took up the matter with renewed vigor 
a few years ago, and each of the three Presbyteries, into which 
the State is divided, made successful efforts to establish literary 
institutions of a high order. Each of these demands some particu- 
lar notice. 

First, the Caldwell Institute. In the spring of 1833, Orange 
Presbytery appointed the Rev. Messrs. A. Wilson, Harding, Russell, 
Goodrich, Graham ; and elders, Messrs. D. Atkinson and Sneed, " a 
committee to inquire into the expediency of altering, and if expedi- 
ent, what alterations are necessary in the mode of preparing young 
men for the gospel ministry, during their literary course of study." 
In the fall of the same year. Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D., President 
of the University of North Carolina, and Mr. Morrow, were added to 
the committee. 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 519 

The report of this committee, as amended and adopted, was, " It 
is recommended to the Presbytery to proceed without delay to make 
such provision as shall be necessary, for imparting education agree- 
ably to their own views of the subject, in its essential merits and 
great and important ends." The Presbytery then resolved, " 1st. 
That it is expedient to establish a literary institution, within the 
bounds of Orange Presbytery, on principles such as to secure a 
strictly Christian Education. 

" 2d. That the site of the institution shall be in or near Greens- 
borough, in the county of Guilford, North Carolina." 

The institution went into operation on the 1st of January, 1836, 
under the instruction of the Rev. Alexander Wilson, a member of 
Orange Presbytery, from the north of Ireland, for some years pastor 
of Grassy Creek and Nutbush, and Mr. Silas C. Lindsay. The 
number of stadents so increased in a year or two, that a third profes- 
sor, Mr. Gretter, was chosen. In less than six years from its com- 
mencement the number of students was about one hundred in regular 
attendance, and these from all parts of the State. 

Article 4th, section 1st, in the plan of the institution, provides, 
" The Principal of the Institution shall be considered as sustaining 
the pastoral relations to all the students, and shall be required to 
perform towards them the duties appertaining to the office. It shall 
be the duty of the professors to afford such religious instruction as 
they shall deem necessary, but it shall be considered indispensable 
that portions of the Bible or the Evidences of Christianity, together 
with the Westminster Catechism, be studied by all the classes on 
the Sabbath." 

Section 2d provides, " The Greek and Latin classics, upon an 
enlarged plan, shall be considered as forming a necessary part of the 
course of study." The Trustees, in their plan of education, say, 
•' W^hen studied in connection with the pure and mixed mathema- 
tics, the classics constitute, it is believed, not only the basis of solid 
learning and correct taste, but furnish also to young men emulous 
of distinction, the very best means of mental discipline." Again 
they say, " Indeed the grand design of the Presbytery in attempting 
the establishment of Caldwell Institute is, to furnish our denomina- 
tion, and the friends of learning generally, with a truly Christian 
education, in which the Bible wnll occupy its proper place, and the 
paramount claims of Christian education be duly and fully recog- 
nized." 

A charter was obtained in 1837, by which the right of appoint- 
ing Trustees is vested in Orange Presbytery. The number of Trus- 



520 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tees is at present 18, one-third of which go out each year, but may 
be re-elected. The attention of the Faculty and Trustees is not so 
much turned to obtaining students, as to preventing the admission 
of incorrigible and dissolute boys. They utterly decline having the 
institution considered as a place to which rude boys may be sent 
" to be broke in." They decline in all eases receiving such. They 
design the institution for the education of youth of good habits, 
without exposing them to the contamination of dissipated youth, and 
immoral young men. 

In the year 1845, dissatisfaction having arisen with the location, 
the institute was removed to Hillsborough, the academy in that 
place, much enlarged, being appropriated to its use. In its new 
location its prospects are no less encouraging than at Greens- 
borough. 

Every day the students attend prayers in the pubMc hall. On 
Sabbath the students attend public worship in the appointed place ; 
and in the afternoon are engaged in Bible Class and Catechetical 
Recitations. All, without exception, are required to recite parts of 
the Westminster Shorter Catechism each Sabbath. The greatest 
number required of the most advanced, at one time, is ten ; of the 
younger students, and those who have not previously studied the 
catechism, a less number is expected. The number of chapters in 
the Bible, for recitation, varies according to their length, and sub- 
jects, and other circumstances. 

The Institute bears the name of the first president of the univer- 
sity of North Carolina — Caldwell, its firm friend, from its inception, 
during his life. He strongly urged upon his brethren a return to 
the old-fashioned discipline and studies of Presbyterian classical 
schools, the course somewhat enlarged. He declared that it was 
not sectarian for denominations to have denominational schools : 
that religion must be taught by somebody, and in classical acade- 
mies, but one denomination could be engaged in a single school to 
advantage. In these sentiments of Dr. Caldwell the community 
now generally agree. 

The success of the Institute in making scholars, has been equal to 
the anticipations of its friends. The students take an honorable 
and becoming stand in the university ; are in high repute as pre- 
ceptors of academies, and teachers in primary schools. The 
thorough drilling they are called to undergo, fits them for a profes- 
sional course, and a pleasant pursuit of literary studies in after life. 

Upon the removal of the institute from Greensborough, the friends 
of education in and around that village continued the classical 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 521 

school in the buildings vacated, under the tuition of the Rev. Eli 
W. Caruthers, the successor of Dr. David Caldwell, and author of 
his memoirs ; and Mr. Lindsey, who had been an instructor in the 
Institute from the first. This school has flourished, and has fair 
prospects of success. Its discipline and course of studies are formed 
upon the model and experience of the school that preceded it ; and 
Greensborough still holds out strong inducements for the patronage 
of the public, for the education of boys. 

The Donaldson Academy was founded by Fayetteville Presbytery, 
about the same time with the Caldwell Institute, and located in 
Fayetteville. Its object was the same, and the discipline and course 
of studies very similar. It received its name from a liberal patron 
in New York. It was commenced on the manual labor plan ; as 
was also the design of the Caldwell Institute «t first. Its success 
under the tuition of the Rev. Simeon Colton, was flattering both as 
to the numbers and progress of the students. But the manual labor 
system was found unprofitable and inexpedient, and was abandoned 
in a few years. Some unpropitious circumstances led the trustees 
to dispose of the academy buildings, and the preceptor, Mr. Colton, 
has since carried on a flourishing classical school in Fayetteville on 
his own responsibility, until in the present year (1846), his accept- 
ance of the presidency of a college brought his school to a close. 

Davidson College was founded by Concord and Bethel Presby- 
teries ; the first embracing the upper part of North Carolina, and 
the other an adjoining section in South Carolina. In the year 
1835, the Concord Presbytery, at their regular spring meeting held 
at Prospect Church, formerly a part of Centre, took steps for the 
endowment of a college, to be located somewhere in the beautiful 
region occupied by the Presbyterian population in the upper part of 
the State. In the fall of the same year, vigorous measures were 
taken for putting up suitable buildings. The site was chosen in 
the northern part of Mecklenburg county, near to Iredell, Rowan, 
and Cabarrus, about two miles from Centre Meeting-house. 

Its name was given in honor of General Davidson, who fell at 
Cowan's Ford, whose numerous relatives were generous patrons 
of the College. Operations were commenced the first Monday of 
March, 1837, under Rev. R. H. Morrison, D.D., pastor of Sugar 
Creek, president ; and Rev. P. J. Sparrow of Salisbury, professor. 
By these gentlemen, with the assistance of a tutor, Mr. Johnson, the 
regular classes were formed, and carried through a regular college 
course. 
The college was opened as a manual labor institution; and all 



522 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the students were required to labor some hours each study day upon 
the college farm, for which they received compensation. After 
about four years' trial, the system was modified from necessary to 
voluntary labor ; those laboring receiving a suitable compensation. 
In the year 1838 an ample charter was obtained from the State, 
empowering the Board of Trustees chosen by Concord and Bethel 
Presbyteries, to manage all the affairs of the college, and hold 
property to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars. Vacan- 
cies in the board are to be supplied by the Presbyteries that founded 
the college ; and such other Presbyteries as they may associate with 
themselves. 

By Art. 2d, Sec. 3d, of the Constitution, it is provided, that the 
teachers and professors shall, on their inauguration, enter into the 
following obligations, viz. — " I do sincerely believe the Scriptm-es 
of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God, the only 
infallible rule of faith and practice. I do sincerely adopt the Con- 
fession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of 
America, as faithfully exhibiting the doctrines taught in the Holy 
Scriptures. I do sincerely approve and adopt the Form of Govern- 
ment and Discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United 
States of America. I do solemnly engage not to teach anything 
that is opposed to any doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith, 
nor to oppose any of the fundamental principles of the Presbyterian 
Church Government, while I continue a teacher or professor of this 
Institution." By Art. 1st, no one is eligible to the office of trustee 
but such as are " members in full communion of the Presbyterian 
Church." It is also provided, that " no person shall be inducted 
into the office of teacher or professor but a member of the Presby- 
terian Church in full communion." Great pains are taken to impart 
suitable religious and moral instruction to the students, and to en- 
force the necessary discipline. The charter provisions make it an 
offence cognizable by the common law courts, for any person to set 
up or open to the students any allurements to dissipation within two 
miles of the College. 

The College was deprived of the valuable services of its first 
President, Dr. Morrison, by protracted ill health, which for a time 
rendered any effort at teaching or preaching impracticable ; and of 
Professor Sparrow, by resignation. Dr. Morrison, after retiring to 
his farm, recovered his health, and is now preaching; and Mr. 
Sparrow is President of Hampden Sydney College, in Virginia. 
Davidson College has been pretty regularly increasing in the num- 
ber of its students and the extent of its influence: and the standard 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 523 

of its scholarship is rising as fast as that of any infant institution in 
our land. Its instruction is imparted by a President, Rev. Samuel 
Williamson, and two Professors, Rev. S. B. 0. Wilson, and Mr. Mor- 
timer Johnson, with the assistance of tutors. 

There are, or ought to be, students enough in the State to fill the 
University and this College also. There ought to be enough con- 
nected w^ith the ten thousand communicants of the Presbyterian 
Church to sustain this College to the full, and spare some students 
to the University. And if the w^hole State is ever aroused to a just 
apprehension of the value of education, these two institutions will 
not contain the youths thirsting for knowledge ; and, if ever the 
Presbyterian population become alive to the real value of classic in- 
struction chastened by Christian morality and truth, this College will 
neither want funds nor students. 

In reviewing the efforts of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish, and their 
descendants, worthy of all praise and imitation, we can but lament 
that the citizens of Mecklenburg and the neighboring counties suf- 
fered themselves to be beguiled from the good work of establishing 
a College on a liberal foundation, and their attention to be turned to 
the neighboring excellent but short-lived Institution at Winnsbo- 
rough, and to the more imposing and permanent one at Princeton. 
It is scarcely possible to conceive the amount of influence that long 
before this would have been put forth in the South and West, fol- 
lowing the stream of emigration towards the Mississippi, had the 
Queen's Museum or Liberty HalFbeen sustained with the spirit and 
liberality with which they were founded. 

There is another feature in the efforts at education among these 
people, worthy of notice, and that is, the attention paid to the in- 
struction of females. Before the Revolution, and for some years 
afterwards, females w^ere not generally favored with an opportunity 
of an education beyond the rudiments taught in the common schools. 
How men who thought so wisely on religion and politics, and vindi- 
cated them so nobly, and prized the liberal instruction of their sons, 
should have so overlooked their daughters, can be solved only by a 
reference to their previous history and the circumstances in which 
they were placed. But the fact remains, that the men who built 
the College at Charlotte and those who founded the classical schools 
in different parts of the State, were contented for the most part with 
affording their daughters a very limited course of study. To read- 
ing the Bible and repeating the catechism, and writing a legible 
hand, few studies were added. Grammar, arithmetic and geography, 
were seldom numbered amongst the studies of females. There were 



524 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

some noble exceptions in daughters of clergymen and some others. 
Dr. Caldwell, of Guilford, gave his daughter the best education that 
could be obtained. Some sent their daughters to Philadelphia. But 
the mass were contented with a very low standard of acquirements. 
As a consequence, the females, who were, as females generally are, 
admirers of mental accomplishments, and who labored hard that 
their brothers and sons might obtain the advantages of knowledge, 
were themselves sometimes neglected and ready to cry out, " many 
a day have I w^orked w^ith these hands," in sickness of heart. 

This evil has been of late passing away before the commendable 
efforts to establish schools of high reputation for young females. 
These have sprung up in different parts of the State — some few, 
public institutions, and many on private responsibility. And at this 
time, the daughters of Carolina are not compelled either to grow up 
with few acquirements besides what their owm native talent could, 
unaided, accomplish, or seek in some other State the privileges de- 
nied in their own. In their native State, they can now enjoy ad- 
vantages for a hterary, scientific and ornamental education, not sur- 
passed in any of the Southern States, and which may compare 
advantageously with the most favored sections of our country. These 
institutions are found both in Eastern and Western Carolina. 

The efforts now making by the State to ensure the instruction of 
all children of the community in the common branches of education, 
in conjunction with the exertions made by different denominations, 
for the proper training of the youth under their care, will, by a di- 
vine blessing, secure to all the privilege of reading, and to multitudes 
a liberal course of study. 

Martin Academy, in its history and influence, is the property of 
Tennessee. It received its existence from the Rev. Samuel Doak, 
the earliest classical teacher west of " the Mountains ;" and, in 
1788, received a charter from the State of North Carolina. In 1795, " 
it became a College, under the labors of that indefatigable man, 
and by the charter granted by the Territorial Government. Its in- 
fluence during the Revolution, and after, together with a full sketch 
of the early ministers that settled along the Holston, will be a part 
of the work of him that writes either the ecclesiastical or civil his- 
tory of Tennessee- 

This article may be very properly brought to a close, by an ex- 
tract from a report of a committee of Fayetteville Presbytery, " on 
the condition and prospects of Davidson College." The Presbytery 
had been invited to join in the support of the College ; a committee, 
of which Rev. Simeon Calton was chairman, was appointed to visit 



EFFORTS TO PROMOTE EDUCATION. 525 

the institution and make report. This committee submitted a long 
and able report to the Presbytery in November, 1844, which was, 
by order of Presbytery, printed and widely circulated. Towards the 
conclusion of the report, the committee say : " Here, it is natural to 
inquire, can Davidson College be sustained ; and can it ever become 
such an institution as will hold a good rank among sister institu- 
tions, and be likely to attract any considerable attention to itself, as 
a place of education ? It should be remembered that there are but 
few colleges that rank so high as to command general attention 
through the country, and exert a general influence on the cause of 
education. Of the sixty, which our country contains, comparatively 
few are known beyond the immediate region where they are located. 
They are all, however, useful in their place ; and exert no little influ- 
ence on the community that surrounds them. Davidson College is 
located in a section of country vdiere the influence of such an insti- 
tution w^ill be appreciated ; and be productive of much good. It is 
easy of access, and placed in the midst of a rich section of territory, 
it will always be surrounded by a dense population, out of which 
many young men will be desirous of obtaining an education. 
These will find this institution, on many accounts, an eligible place 
of resort. The districts of Spartanburg, York, Lancaster, and 
Chesterfield, in South Carolina ; and the counties of Mecklenburg, 
Cabarrus, Anson, Lincoln, Rutherford, Burke, Iredell, Wilkes, Davy, 
Rowan, and Stanley, in North Carolina, will find this the most con- 
venient place for them. Surry, together with the counties further 
to the west, with Richmond, Moore, Montgomery, Robeson, and 
other eastern counties, will, for various reasons, alw^ays contribute 
more or less to the patronage of this institution. The districts and 
counties which we have named contain a population of two hundred 
thousand souls; a population considerably exceeding that of the 
State of Connecticut, previous to the establishment of the two 
denominational colleges, in addition to Yale. Within the 
limits of the district of country which have been described, 
there are between eight and nine thousand members of the Presby- 
terian churches; how many of other denominations, we have no 
means of determining. Supposing the patronage of the institution 
is confined to the Presbyterian dcnoltnination, there is suflficient po- 
pulation of that order, within the limits .named, not only to justify, 
but even to demand, that the institution should, by them, be sus- 
tained. But if conducted on liberal principles, the Presbyterian is 
not the only denomination that will patronize the institution. Other 
deiiominations, from contiguity of situation, or from motives of eco- 



526 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



nomy, and, as may be hoped, from intrinsic merits of the institution, 
will patronize it to some extent. Patronage, too, from other parts 
of the State may be expected, when the character of the institution 
shall have become established and known." 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 527 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AND THE REV. JOSEPH 
CALDWELL, D.D. 

The following brief statement, which appeared in the public pa- 
pers immediately after the exercises it describes, was admitted by 
the friends of the institution to be a correct view of the state of 
things at Chapel Hill, and will form our introduction to the Uni- 
versity of the State. 

At half-past ten o'clock on Thursday morning, June 3d, 1842, 
the usual procession of students, faculty, trustees, and visitors, was 
formed in front of the South College, and moved through the beau- 
tiful grove of native forest trees, carefully preserved as an ornament 
of the University grounds, round the monument erected to the 
memory of the first President, the Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D.D., 
who cherished the infant university and presided over its destinies 
for some forty years, to the chapel, where the exercises of Com- 
mencement Day were opened with prayer by the Rev. Professor 
Mitchell, of the Presbyterian church, and closed with prayer by 
Professor Green, of the Episcopal church. 

During the exercises. His Excellency Governor Morehead on 
the right of the President of the University, Ex-Governor Swain, 
occupied the centre of the stage, and the orators of the day, nine 
in number, in their rear ; and the Trustees and Professors on the 
right and left, occupied the wings of the stage, leaving a space in 
front of the two presiding officers for the speakers' stand ; imme- 
diately in front of the platform were the students of the University 
in a company. 

The performances of the young gentlemen, candidates for the 
Baccalaureate, adorned each with the insignia of the literary so- 
ciety of which he was a member, were characterized by correct- 
ness of sentiment and chasteness of style and delivery ; and an 
entire absence of the artificial action and pompous diction some- 
times so prominent in academic exercises. Before the Bachelor's 
Degree was conferred, one ol the Trrstees read the report of the Fa- 
culty, giving individually, ai 1 by name, the rank of each of the 
candidates for the honor, from the time of entering the University 



528 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

till the close of his studies ; and in a general manner the standing 
of the under-graduates. The senior class occupied a small area 
in front of the stage, while the statement was read from the col- 
lege records. Their rank in scholarship, their behavior in recita- 
tions, public worship, and daily prayers, and the number of 
absentees from any college exercise, were each stated in order. 
The deep interest with which the whole assembly listened to this 
record, evinced the power of the appeal to the sense of honor and 
propriety in the bosoms of the young men. A strong sensation 
pervaded the assembly when it was announced that on account of 
inattention to college duties, after repeated admonitions, tAvo under- 
graduates were in danger of being remitted to their parents ; their 
names were not mentioned ; and it would have been cruel to have 
scanned the anxious company for the discovery that might have 
been made. The report closed by announcing that twenty-nine 
young gentlemen were admitted to their first Degree ; of these, 
one had not failed in an exercise or duty during the whole four 
years' course ; six others had not failed during the senior year ; 
and three others had not in their course voluntarily failed ; their 
few absences being the consequence of unavoidable necessity. 

The degree of A.B. was then conferred by the President, call- 
ing the young gentlemen by name, upon the stage, pronouncing 
the form of admission in Latin, and presenting the parchment on 
which was written a certificate of the fact, signed by the trustees 
and faculty. After the parchment had been given to each Bache- 
lor, a beautifully bound copy of the Bible, the pocket edition of 
the American Bible Society, was presented, by the President, to 
each of the graduates, with a Latin Form expressive of the 
desire of the Faculty and Trustees — that it 7night be their guide 
to eternal life. It is understood that besides public worship on 
the Sabbath, and daily prayers in the chapel, instruction in the 
Bible forms a part of the regular College course. 

An air of solemnity pervaded all the proceedings of this day, in 
the beautiful classic grove of (Chapel Hill. Events had occurred, 
which touched all hearts, in this little community, composed of 
the Faculty of the University, their families, and the students, and 
a few families connected with the Institution. Death, perhaps, 
has not as many terrors in a retired village, as in a crowded city ; 
but it is more solemn and affecting. The throng of business and 
heartless dissipation in the city, neglects the sick, the dying, and 
the dead, and makes it horrible and loathsome to die. In a secluded 
village, or retired community, the death of a single individual, for 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL, 529 

a time, stops the current of business, changes the tide of feehng, 
awakens the tenderest sympathies, and brings home the truth, that 
the narrow resting-place of the grave will soon be the home of us 
all 

An amiable young lady, the daughter of the Rev. Alexander 
Wikon, D.D., of Caldwell Institute, Grcensborough, returning in 
company with her father, from a visit to Raleigh, had been detain- 
ed a few days at the house of Professor Philips of the University, 
by a fever, which yielded to no medicine, but went on slowly and 
'Steadily in its work, till, on the last day of May^ it triumphed over 
its victim. What parent could check the feelings of sympathy 
with a parent for a sick child ? What youth could shut the heart 
against that indescribable interest, that surrounds an amiable 
female, cheered in her struggles with disease and death, by the 
hope of immortal life througli Jesus Christ, her Lord ? Simply 
to say, however, that the inhabitants of Chapel Hill sympathized 
with the afflicted parent and his dying child would be saying little 
of that classic community. 

A sense of religion had grown up with that young lady, and the 
duty and privilege of prayer had been felt and enjoyed from her 
earliest days. Her religious principles maintained an unbroken 
ascendency through the various stages of her disease till about a 
day before her death, when the last struggle of unbelief preceded 
the last struggle of mortal life. Her disturbed appearance and 
restlessness of body exciting attention, she said — " it was not pain of 
body, but that her mind was dark, and fears had come over her, 
lest her hopes were vain, and would desert her in the last hour." 
The Professor, whose hospitality was privileged in ministering to 
the wants of the dying one, was immediately summoned from his 
college exercises, — prayer was offered around her couch, till her 
■soul was quieted in the good hope through grace. From that 
time she enjoyed unbroken peace, till she fell asleep in Jesus. 
The solemn funeral services, conducted by Professor Philips, took 
place the evening preceding the commencement, and her remains 
were laid in the burying-ground of the University. You will see 
Jier monument as you pass, a little distance from the gate. 

The impression of the whole scene on commencement day was 
entirely favorable ; creditable alike to the students, the Faculty 
and the University, Under the present admirable arrangements, 
a studious youth may acquire as complete an academic education 
as at any college in the Union ; and parents and guardians may be 
assured that unceasing attention is paid to the morals, religious in- 
34 



530 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

struction, and studious habits of the young men committed to the 
fostering care of the University." — ( Watchman of the South, June 
I6th, 1842.) 

The University of North Carohna, introduced to the kindness 
of criticism and the pubhc sympathy by the preceding notice, is 
not a Presbyterian institution, neither does it belong to, nor is it un- 
der the pecuhar management of any rehgious denomination. It 
is the child and property of the State at large, in vv^hich all have 
an interest, and over it the Legislature the ultimate control. As 
part of the community that loves the education of youth, the Pres- 
byterian congregations and families have a great and increasing 
interest in the University, now rising in the public estimation, in 
actual merit and in the influence on the public mind ; they must, 
in common with all the denominations in the State, feel the pul- 
sations of tliis literary and scientific heart of the State ; as patri- 
ots, they must, and do wish, well to this nursery of citizens and 
rulers, for its disease and pollution, or its health and. moral action, 
must affect every section of the State, and sooner or later guide 
the fortunes of the whole. Who can estimate the influence of a 
well endowed popular literary institution, as it pours out its streams, 
year after year, into the bosoms of society, and like the Nile of 
Egypt, watering every garden on the plains ! 

But there is another view in which Presbyterians have been, 
and are, deeply involved as a community that love their creed, and 
fully believe that, in the fair working of their principles, the best 
interests of society will advance with a rapid pace, even to the 
full enjoyment of the rights of man in freedom of conscience, 
and undisturbed possession of life and property ; a view in which, 
as we look at the University, every Presbyterian may point at it, 
as an exhibition or development of one part of their principles, 
which convinces, not by argument, but by facts, that the Presby- 
terian Church is neither monarchical nor aristocratical, nor grasping, 
but is seeking honestly the welfare of the whole. This view will 
be set forth in this sketch of the history of the institution, and a 
short notice of him, justly styled the Father of the University, 
Joseph Caldwell. — 

On the 11th of December, 1789, the Legislature of North Caro- 
lina, in accordance with the provisions of her constitution, adopted 
December 6th, 1776, requiring all useful learning to be promoted 
in one or more universities, incorjDorated an university with the 
following preamble to the charter : " Whereas, in all well regu- 
lated governments it is the indispensable duty of every legislature 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 531 

to consult the happiness of a risnig generation, and endeavor to fit 
them for an honorable discharge of the social duties of life, by 
paying the strictest attention to their education ; and whereas an 
university supported by permanent funds, and well endowed, 
would have the most direct tendency to answer the above pur- 
pose, Be it they'efore enacted,^'' <^c., <^c. The following forty 
names were inserted as " the trustees of the University of North 
Carolina,''^ viz. ; Samuel Johnson,''James Iredell, Charles John- 
son,'^ Hugh Williamson, Stephen Cabarrus, 'Richard Dobbs' 
Speight, Wm. Blount, Benjamin Williams, John Sibpeanes, Fre- 
derick Harget, Robert W. Snead, Archibald Maclane, Hon. Sam- 
uel Ashe, Robert Dixon, Benjamin Smith, Hon. Samuel Spencer, 
John Hay, James Hogg, Henry Wm. Harrington, Wm. Barney 
Grove, Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, Adlai Osborn, John Stokes, 
John Hamilton, Joseph Graham, Hon, John Williams, Thomas 
Person, Alfred Moore, Alexander Mebane, Joel Lane, Willie 
Jones, Benjamin Hawkins, John Haywood, sen., John Macon, 
Wm. Richardson Davie, Joseph Dixon, Wm. Lenoir, Joseph 
McDonald, James Holland, and Wm. Porter. Some moderate 
endowment was made by the State, which cost her nothing, by 
way of old debts due from receiving officers previous to 1st Jan., 
1785, and all the property which had escheated to the State or 
should thereafter be esclieated. The latter part of the endow- 
ment was repealed in a few years. 

The first meeting of the' trustees was held in Fayetteville, the 
15th of November, 1790, and the work of gathering funds to 
erect buildings and maintain teachers was commenced. \\\ De- 
cember, 1791, the State made a loan of 610,000, which was after- 
wards converted into a donation, and the trustees determined to 
select a site and erect buildings. According to the charter " a 
healthy and convenient situation, which shall not be situated 
within five miles of the seat of government, or any of the places 
of holding the courts of law or equity," was to be chosen by the 
trustees according to their discretion. On the Ist of November, 
1792, a committee of six met at Pittsborough, to determine the 
precise location of the university, the trustees^ having decided in 
August in favor of the neighborhood of Cypress Bridge, on the 
road from Pittsborough to Raleigh. Jjiberal offers were made 
by various proprietors to secure the location on their tracts, or in 
their neighborhoods. On the 9th tlte committee unanimously 
chose Chapel Hill, and the same day the citizens of the neigh- 
borhood conveyed eleven hundred and eighty acres of land to the 



532 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

university, and made a subscription of about $1600 to assist in 
carrying the designs of the trustees into speedy execution. The 
North Carohna Journal, Hahfax, for September 25th, 1793, sa5^s : 
" The seat of the university is on a high ridge. There is a gentle 
declivity of 300 yards to the village, which is situated in a hand- 
some plain considerably lower than the site of the public build- 
ings, but so greatly elevated above the neighboring country as to 
furnish an extensive landscape. The ridge appears to com- 
mence about half a mile directly east of the college buildings, 
where it rises abruptly several hundred feet ; this peak is called 
Point Prospect. The Peak country spreads oif below, like the 
ocean, giving an immense hemisphere, in which the eye seems to 
be lost in the extent of space. 

" The University is situated about twenty-eight miles from the 
city of Raleigh, and twelve from the town of Hillsborough. The 
great road from Chatham, and the country in the neighborhood of 
that county, to Petersburg, passes at present directly through the 
village, and it is a fortunate and important circumstance, both to 
the Institution and the town, that the road from all the Western 
country to the seat of Government will also pass through this 
place, being the nearest and best direction." 

On the 12th of October, 1793, the first lots in the village were 
sold, and the corner-stone of the first building was laid, with ma- 
sonic procession and ceremonies, by William Richardson Davie. 
The Rev. Dr. McCorkle, of the Presbyterian church, the only 
clergyman then in the corporation, addressed the assembly at 
length. From his speech the following are extracts : — " It is our 
duty to acknowledge that sacred scriptural truth. Except the Lord 
build the house, they labor in vain that build it ; except the Lord 
keepeth the city, the loatchman waketh but in vain. For my own 
part, I feel myself penetrated with a sense of these truths ; and 
this I feel not only as a minister of religion, but also as a citizen of 
the State, as a member of civil as well as religious society. 
These unaffected feelings of my heart give me leave to express, 
with that plainness and honesty which becomes a preacher of the 
Gospel and a minister of Jesus Christ." 

" To diffuse the greatest possible degree of happiness in a given 
territory is the aim of good government and religion. Now the 
happiness of a nation depends upon national wealth and national 
glory, and cannot be gained without them. They in like manner 
depend upon liberty and laws. Liberty and laws call for general 
knowledge in the people, and extensive knowledge in matters of 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 533 

State ; and these, in fine, demand j^ublic places of education . 
* * * * How can any nation be happy without national 
wealth ? How can that nation, or man, be happy that is not pro- 
curing the necessary conveniences and accommodations of life ? 
How can glory or wealth be procured or preserved without lib- 
erty and laws, as they must check luxury, encourage industry and 
protect wealth. They must secure me the glory of my actions, 
and save from a bowstring or a bastile ; and how are these objects 
to be gained without general knowledge ? Knowledge is wealth, — 
it is glory — whether among philosophers, ministers of state or of 
religion, or among the great mass of the people. Britons glory in 
the name of a Newton, and honor him with a place among the 
sepulchres of her kings, Americans glory in the name of a Frank- 
lin ; and every nation which has them boasts her great men. 
Savages cannot have, rather cannot educate them, though many a 
Newton has been born and buried among them. Knowledge is 
liberty and law. When the clouds of ignorance are dispelled by 
the radiance of knowledge, power trembles, but the authority of 
the laws remains inviolable ; and how this knowledge, productive 
of so many advantages to mankind, can be acquired without public 
places of instruction, I know not. ****<' ]\iay this hill 
be for religion as the ancient hill of Zion ; and for literature and 
the Muses, may it surpass the ancient Parnassus ! We this day 
enjoy the pleasure of seeing the corner-stone of the University, its 
foundations, its materials, and the architects of the buildings, and 
we hope ere long to see its stately walls and spire ascending to 
their summit." The discourse was followed by a short but animat- 
ed prayer, closed with the united Amen of an immense concourse 
of people. 

The buildings being in a state of sufficient forwardness to ac- 
commodate students, notice was given for the opening of the insti- 
tution. Rev. David Kerr, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, 
a member of the Presbyterian church, who had emigrated to 
America in the year 1791, and had resided in Fayetteville as the 
preacher, and also as teacher of a classical school for about three 
years, having a reputation for talents and scholarship, was the 
first Professor selected by the trustees ; and with him was asso- 
ciated Mr. Samuel A. Holmes, as tutor in the preparatory depart- 
ment. The first student on the ground was Mr. Hinton James, 
from Wilmington, who arrived on the 12th of February, 1795, and 
on the 13th the public institut ion commenced. Mr. Kerr remained 
but a short time in the employ of the trustees ; went to Lumber- 



534 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ton in Robeson county, commenced mercantile business and the 
study of law ; and when prepared for legal business, removed to 
the Mississippi territory, was made United States Marshal, and 
soon after appointed Judge ; and closed his career in the year 
1810, having acquired both property and reputation. 

In the course of the year 1795, Mr. Charles W. Harris, of Ca- 
barrus county, a graduate of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, who was 
pursuing the study of the law, was appointed professor of mathe- 
matics, and Mr. Holmes professor of languages. Mr. Harris ac- 
cepted the office only for one year, and declined renewing his term 
of engagement, wishing to follow his profession, in which he 
became eminent, being considered one of the best lawyers in the 
State, when death suddenly closed his career. He directed the 
attention of the trustees to Mr. Joseph Caldwell, a tutor in Nassau 
Hall, with whose deportment and scholarship he had been 
acquainted while a member of college, though there had'' never 
been any intimacy with him. This recommendation led to a cor- 
respondence, of which Mr. Harris was the organ ; and finally the 
removal of Mr. Caldwell to Chapel Hill, in the fall of 1796, as the 
Professor of mathematics in the University. The course of 
instruction in the University had been carried on about eighteen 
months, and the regular course of studies not yet settled, or the 
regular classes formed. Everything was new, and in an unform- 
ed state ; the funds small, and the students few ; the library and 
apparatus yet to be procured, and the faculty not more in number 
than is required for a high school. But the work was commenced, 
and an effort must be made for an University. The history of the 
institution as a place of education, properly commences with the 
labors of Joseph Caldwell. He was the presiding Professor, and 
then the President ; and for some forty years directed the studies 
of the classes, performing the duty of a laborious professor and of 
the president, of a faithful teacher and the responsible governor, 
till the institution, which began so small, grew up to a standard of 
excellence, at his death, unsurpassed by any institution of a similar 
kind in the southern country, and second to few in the United 
States. As for forty years the history of the man is the history of 
the University, and the history of the University is the history of 
the man, a few notices of his early life, which may introduce us to 
the Rev. Joseph Caldwell as he appeared at the Hill in 1796, will 
facilitate our acquaintance with the rise and progress of the Uni- 
versity itself. His matured years gave a finishing touch to the 
work of his youth. 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 535 

Dr. Joseph Caldwell, a respectable physician in New Jersey, 
the descendant of an emigrant from the province of Ulster, Ireland, 
a country fertile in enterprising men, as Carolina can witness, 
came to an untimely end, from the rupture of a blood-vessel, on 
the 19th of April, 1773, at Lamington, a village on the little 
stream called Black River, that empties into the Raritan. On the 
20th his body was committed to the dust; and on the 21st his 
widow gave birth to a son, which, in her desolation of Avidowhood, 
she called Joseph, in memory of the husband and the father. As 
the child grew he received religious instructions from his pious 
mother, Rachel Harker, the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman, 
and granddaughter of a Huguenot. Mr. Lovel, the maternal grand- 
father of Joseph Caldwell, fled from France after that memorable 
epoch, 1684, when, by the revocation of tiie Edict of Nantz, the 
French Protestants became the prey of persecution without mercy. 
He took his residence first in England ; and after a few years 
emigrated to Ainerica, and settled on the west end of Long Island, 
near Oyster Bay, and not far from Hempstead Plains. Here he 
lived an exemplary Christian life, and trained up his family in 
habits of religion, infusing much of his own decision, promptness, 
and determination, in matters of religion, and in the ordinary busi- 
ness of life. Of his maternal grandmother, Rachel Lovel, Mr. 
Caldwell used to speak in the highest terms, having lived with her 
when young, and gathered from her the traditions of the family ; 
but of his mother, his admiration knew no bounds, as a kind parent 
and Christian woman. Of the discretion of his mother, he used 
to give a pleasing instance, exemplifying unintentionally his own 
natural tenderness of feeling, and his sense of propriety. While 
quite a young lad, during a short residence at Bristol, he ventured 
to transgress the rules of his mother, by going on a Sabbath to in- 
dulge in bathing : narrowly escaping being drowned, he was taken 
home sick and exhausted, requiring careful attention to recover his 
lost strength. His mother kindly attended upon her son, and, to 
his surprise, said nothing to him about his disobedience, or exposure 
to loss of Hfe. Whatever was her motive, the effect was great ; 
her silence distressed him more than any reproof she could have 
given: his conscience chastised him for his sin in grieving a mother 
he so much loved. The boy's heart was tender, and the mother 
knew her child. The religious impression soon passed away, but 
the moral remained. Through hfe he retained the impression of 
this dealing of his mother, and, as far as practicable, governed his 
students in the same principle, throwing them upon their sense 



536 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

of honor, ■v\'ith unabated kindness, alwaj^s forbearing exposure, and 
public and even private reproof, as far as reclaiming the offender, 
and the interest of the institution, would permit. A lad was far 
gone in moral insensibility that could know Dr. Caldwell and rebel 
against him for any length of time. 

Mr. Lovel, the grandfather of Dr. Caldwell, was a firm believer 
in those doctrines of religion, and that consistent Christian prac- 
tice, which, in England, was called Puritanism, and in France ob- 
tained for its followers the name of Huguenots. Fond of music, 
he brought with him from France a parlor organ, on which he 
played himself, accompanying with his voice, and taught his chil- 
dren to play upon it as they grew up, using it as an assistant to 
their music in the daily family worship. This instrument is pro- 
bably in existence still, as it was carefully preserved, and in use 
by the descendants of Mr. Lovel in the days of Mr. Caldwell's 
youth. 

Mr. Lovel was peculiar for his conscientious abstinence from 
meat diet. Living on a most productive farm, which he managed 
well, he reared his family in total abstinence of all diet that re- 
quired the slaughter of animals, believing that such a course was 
more consistent with the constitution of men and the state of in- 
nocency, than the indulgence of appetite at the expense of animal 
life. In his domestic economy, he accustomed his children to 
exercise their ingenuity and skill in overcoming difficulties ; and 
mingling strict discipline with parental kindness, he possessed their 
veneration and love, and his family was esteemed the abode of 
cheerfulness and domestic happiness, 

Mr. Harker, a Presbyterian clerg}-man, married Mr. Level's 
daughter Rachel, and settled in a place in Morris county, New 
Jerse)', called Black River. Remarkable for his size, strength 
and vigor of -body, and also for his intellectual powers, his prepa- 
rations for the ministiy commenced after he had passed the days 
of his youth in manual labor. The habits of activity he had 
formed, were continued through life. A practical man and faith- 
ful pastor, he was a leading man in the community. A daughter 
of his, named Rachel after her mother, was Mrs. Caldwell. Another 
daughter married a man by the name of Symmes, and became the 
mother of a son noted for his theory of the earth's concavity at the 
poles. 

The war of the Revolution coming on when Dr. Caldwell was 
a child, and New Jersey being the track of the hostile armies, he 
was removed from place to place, as the ravages of war pressed 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 537 

upon his retreat. During all his early life, his mother's residence 
was unsettled, and his education conducted irregularly, as oppor- 
tunities were presented. His mother having a temporary resi- 
dence in Bristol, he commenced the stud)^ of the mathematics, in 
which he delighted through life. Her residence being for a time 
in Princeton, he was presented with a Latin grammar by a stu- 
dent from Charleston, South Carolina, and commenced his classi- 
cal studies in the preparatory school under the direction of Dr. 
Witherspoon, President of the college. This school was famous 
for the thorough instruction and the consequent close application 
and correct method of the pupils. Young Caldwell was a close 
student, and laid the foundation for his future scholarship and ex- 
cellence while in this school, and received impressions and imbibed 
principles which characterized him in his labors at Chapel Hill, 
and in his efforts to establish and sustain gi-ammar schools of a 
high order. When his mother removed to Newark, his progress 
in his education was delayed by the change of system, and the 
different course of studies, and his being put in a class less ad- 
vanced than himself. It is not improbable that his OAvn experience 
of the inefficiency of some popular modes of instruction, and more 
general courses of study, fixed his judgment so firmly in favor of 
thorough drilling in the rudiments of science, and of a liberal 
course in the languages. 

From Newark his mother , removed to Elizabethtown, and 
while there, on account of her narrow circumstances, abandoned 
the project of giving him a liberal education, and fixed upon the 
printing business as his future occupation. With some difficulty 
she obtained a place she thought eligible for her son, but when the 
time came for his being apprenticed, she expressed a strong dis- 
inclination to act, first delaying, then opposing, then abandoning 
an engagement she had sought, and for which her son had at 
length contracted a strong predilection. Some time after this, Dr. 
Witherspoon, as he passed through Elizabethtown in the stage, 
called to see her, and after consultation respecting her son, re- 
moved all her difficulties, and promised, on his being sent to col- 
lege, to be his patron, if he stood in need at any time of more 
assistance than was convenient for her to give. With unbounded 
satisfaction young Caldwell became a member of the Freshman 
class at Nassau Hall, August, 1787, in his fifteenth year, with a 
passionate desire for improvement, without any definite ultimate 
result in view. 

His progress in study and his standing as a scholar while in 



538 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

college, is understood by his honorable appointment to the Latin 
Salutatory for the exercises of commencement day, August, 1791, 
when he received his Bachelor's degree, being then in his nine- 
teenth year. His deportment and success during his college 
course attracted the attention of Mr. Harris, and led to his appoint- 
ment as professor in the University of North Carolina. 

Being a young man of tender feelings, and that amiable dis- 
position that desires to please others at a sacrifice of personal 
comfort, he was sometimes induced while in college to engage in 
sports which involved some breach of strict propriety in college 
discipline, yielding to the solicitations and persuasions of his 
fellow students, who had. less of that tenderness of conscience, 
self-respect, and sense of propriety, that never failed to inflict on 
him, as with a whip of scorpions, a full measure of distress for 
his impropriety. Speaking of his course as a student, he says : 
" If there was any pleasure in the moments of clandestine acts of 
mischief, it was so mixed, in my bosom, with the agitation of ap- 
prehended discovery and dread of consequences, that I should be 
far from recommending it on the score of enjoyment. In all such 
cases, and I thank God they were not numerous, as soon as they 
were over, the gloomy cloud which they brought upon my feel- 
ings, and which kept hovering around me for days, was enough 
to decide most unequivocally, that much was to be set down on 
the page, not of profit but of loss. The miseries, more or less, 
which, in compliance with solicitation, I sometimes consented to 
inflict upon myself were only a portion of the consequent suffer- 
ing." With this tenderness of feeling and of conscience, there 
was connected a degree of resolution when called imperiously to 
act, which all combined and governed by Christian principle forms 
a Christian hero ; a man not rash, nor timidly afraid ; sensible of 
danger, but more sensible of propriety ; tender of others' feelings, 
but more tender of truth and right ; for convenience and accom- 
modation of others yielding all that can be yielded, but purchasing 
nothing by giving up or concealing principle ; that would not hurt 
the hair of the head of ingenuous, helpless innocence, and yet 
would die for the truth and righteousness. This character went 
with Caldwell through life, and was often displayed while per- 
forming the duties of professor and president at Chapel Hill. 
For at times you might have found him all kindness while dealing 
with inexperienced youth, in whom he thought he saw an ingenu- 
ous noble spirit to confess and forsake an error, and then with 
those in whom he discovered a spirit of insubordination, you might 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 539 

see him rigorous, uncompromising, till the dignity of the law was 
vindicated. And in his intercourse and necessary connection with 
the board of trustees on circumstantial things, giving up his better 
judgment and greater experience with cheerfulness, in obedience 
to the expressed will of the majority, as if he had no fixed pur- 
pose or resolution of soul ; and then on subjects on which he saw 
his own or the dignity of the institution depending, resolutely 
setting himself, with a calm firmness, against propositions and 
measures, as if he had never known what it was to yield his 
opinion to any body of men. 

After receiving his degree of A.B., he returned to the residence 
of his brother Samuel, who then occupied the farm given him by 
his grandfather Harker, at Black River, which was also the resi- 
dence of his mother. Not being prepared to enter upon a course 
of professional studies, nor inclined to labor on the farm, he 
opened a small school in the neighborhood, and exercised himself 
in teaching little children, commencing, unintentionally, where the 
best teachers begin to learn the rare science of teaching well, with 
the unformed, or infant mind. There is a philosophy in the alpha- 
bet and in teaching it ; and more skill may be required to teach 
a column of words of two letters to a lively or a dull boy, than to 
lead a class through an equation. 

From this place, after some months, he was removed to Eliza- 
bethtown, to occupy the post of an usher or assistant, in a classi- 
cal school, and was made more intimately conversant with the 
rudiments of a classic course, by recalling his boyish exercises in 
study, and adding to his acquirements, while leading others to 
Parnassus hill ; finding out his own deficiencies, and gathering 
new rays of light on abstruse subjects, in the preparation to unfold 
the mystery to the curious minds of studious boys, who catch, as 
by intuition, from the preceptor, the knowledge of his unfitness, or 
his capability to teach. Here he came under the preaching of 
that gifted, zealous, and erratic man, David Austin. A fervent 
and successful preacher, of tall stature and commanding appear- 
ance, fine voice and impressive delivery, he manifested the un- 
hinging of his mind, and tendency to mono-madness, on the return 
of the Jeivs, which he first rejoiced in, then preached, then be- 
lieved was just at hand ; and then becoming too absorbed in the 
bcAvildering subject to be able to perform the duties of pastor, he 
left his people. His enthusiasm and eloquence carried many of 
his people with him to the verge of folly, if not insanity. But 
before, and after this temporary alienation of mind, he was a fasci- 



540 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

nating, impressive, and useful preacher of the gospel. With this 
gentleman, then in his zenith of usefulness, Mr. Caldwell began a 
course of study for the ministry, his mind having become settled 
both on the truth of the gospel of Christ, as a Revelation from 
God ; and on his personal interest in that salvation revealed in the 
gospel. These being settled, the work of the ministry appeared 
to his mind and heart, in some manner, as it had to the pious 
mind of his affectionate mother, as the most desirable work for his 
strength and days. The kindness of his pastor, of whom he always 
spoke with feelings of the most affectionate reverence, his fervent 
exhortations in the pulpit and his private communications, together 
with the affectionate attentions of Mrs. Austin, who won his heart 
as a matron in the gospel, confirmed his faith, and stimulated his 
desires for spiritual excellence, and for accomplishing the greatest 
good for his fellow men. The cause of Christ appeared the cause 
of all the world. His companion in study was a Mr. Sherman, a 
nephew of Mr. Austin. 

The views and impressions of religious truth which he obtained 
at this time were of an abiding nature, and confirmed by his resi- 
dence as tutor at Nassau Hall, where he pursued his theological 
studies under the direction of great and good men, particularly Dr. 
Witherspoon ; they were the articles of his belief and principles of 
his preaching, till the end of his life, and the joy and crown of his 
last days. While Professor at Chapel Hill he" received a letter 
from Mr. Sherman, his fellow student at Elizabethtown, for whom 
he felt a strong regard, who had been settled in the ministry of the 
orthodox faith, and had imbibed the spirit of rationalism that for a 
time pervaded a part of the church, and flattered by its show of 
wisdom and science, had been decoyed by its novelty from the 
orthodox faith of the Puritans, informing him of his change of 
views respecting the character and persoii of Christ, and conse- 
quently of his work for the salvation of men. To this Mr. Cald- 
well replied, that having examined and settled those matters, he 
did not expect ever to change his views, and did not feel a desire 
to think differently on that subject from what he then did, and had 
done for a long time. His practical mind and sound sense were 
for " going on to perfection, from the principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead 
works and of faith toward God." 

In April, 1795, he received the appointment of tutor in his Alma 
Mater ; and being released from his partial engagements to the 
trustees of the academy at Springfield, with the cordial approbation 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 541 

of his friends, he entered upon his new office with cheering pros- 
pects of usefuhiess and improvement. His duties as tutor called 
into almost constant exercise a quality of mind and heart of which 
he was capable, but to which he was not very strongly inclined ; 
a quality indispensable to extensive and paramount usefulness, — 
firmness of purpose that could produce vigor of action. He was 
in no danger of exercising harshness or severity to the youth com- 
mitted to his care ; he knew as well as others that his failings 
leaned the other way. The innocent never dreaded his power of 
command ; and the culprit sometimes hoped to escape by his ten- 
derness. The confidence of the one was never disappointed ; and 
the hopes and expectations of the other seldom realized. His 
sense of duty could nerve his heart to overcome all false compas- 
sion, and make him do firmly what he did tenderly. 

While tutor he was associated with Mr. Hobart, afterwards 
Bishop of the Episcopal church in New York. 

In the summer of 1795 the correspondence commenced between 
him and Professor Harris that led to his giving consent to be run 
as candidate for the Professorship of Mathematics in the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina. On being informed of his election he 
immediately made preparations to repair to Chapel Hill. Being 
licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, 
he set out in a private conveyance for the new field of his labors 
in North Carolina, in September, 1796. Stopping in Philadelphia 
to pass the Sabbath, he preached for Dr. Green in Arch Street 
Church. On Monday morning he was visited by two gentlemen 
to procure his stay in the city, to visit and preach for a vacant con- 
gregation, in view of settlement. Happily, in this case of difficulty, 
— the choice between a congregation in the most pleasant circum- 
stances in a flourishing city, and the laborious occupation of a 
teacher in a new institution, of doubtful issue, and small present 
promise, either in profit or fame, — he had an adviser in Dr. Ashbel 
Green, since so long and so extensively known in the church. The 
opinion of this judicious man, that, if he should be blessed of 
God to raise up an institution for the instruction of youth, that 
should be worthy of the name of The University of North Carolina, 
the amount of usefulness to society at large, and to the Church of 
Christ in particular, would far outweigh his usefulness as pastor 
in any charge, and amply compensate him for any labor or trial he 
might be called to endure for its accomplishment ; that, though his 
success was doubtful, and there were many trials in his path, the 
object was worthy of his best cffi)rt, turned the scale suddenly. 



542 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Without waiting for Mr. Caldwell to reply, the Dr. said, somewhat 
abruptly, " he is on his way to Carolina, and to Carolina he is cer- 
tainly to go. To speak of other places will be in vain." How 
true it is that words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in baskets 
of silver, even though uttered, as Mr. Caldwell thought these were, 
with abruptness. It was good counsel to a worthy person, well 
followed, and crowned with great success, by God's blessing. And 
was it not of God that Joseph Caldwell went to Chapel Hill ? 
The widow nursed the infant boy, on whom a father's face never 
smiled ; a southern boy gives him his grammar to begin his lite- 
rary course ; the President of Nassau Hall, Dr. Witherspoon, takes 
him from an unemployed life, and puts him to the college desk ; 
Austin leads him into the study of Theology ; Harris, the Pro- 
fessor, turns his attention to Chapel Hill, and secures his election ; 
and Green, wise in counsel, sends him on to his field of labor, 
where many trials awaited him before he should get his crown. 
And no one of these ever seemed to be influenced by an opinion 
that he possessed splendid talents, uncommon genius, or peculiar 
faculties for some wonderful work ; but by a conviction that there 
was in him a certain something, made up of a well-balanced mind, 
probity of heart, sense of propriety, and desire of usefulness, all 
clothed with great modesty, that marked him out as the man to 
accomplish a work that called for piety, humility, patience, pru- 
dence, and untiring industry. Evidently God sent him to Chapel 
Hill. 

In November, 1796, he entered on his duties in the infant uni- 
versity. Rightly to understand bis labors, it is absolutely neces- 
sary to take a survey of the advantages and disadvantages under 
which he labored in the performance of his duties, and in his efforts 
to rear the institution to vigor and usefulness. His advantages 
were, 1st : The State patronage ; some permanent funds in hand, 
and much more in prospect from the increased price of lands, and 
the escheats and "debts of the State, which had been appropriated 
by law. However small the patronage of the State may be, yet, 
if it be constant, it gives an advantage in gathering students and 
in keeping the public attention so as to increase the number he 
might have at any given time. And 2d : The influence of the 
forty members of the Board of Trustees, afterwards increased to 
sixty-five, all of them intelligent and influential men, and desirous 
of building a State institution, who might be expected to assist in 
gathering students, and also in collecting funds. Being chosen 
from all parts of the State, and not confined to politics or denonii- 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 543 

nation, he had the privilege of looking, through them, to the whole 
State, for his help. And 3d : The institution being entirely in its 
infancy, he had the opportunity of forming its first shape and 
spirit ; on the given spot and with the given advantages, he planted 
the acorn, which he watered and cherished and pruned to the vigor- 
ous oak, whose branches now overshadow the land. 

His difficulties were great, arising from the nature of the case 
and from human nature. 1st. There were in operation in the 
State, particularly in the upper part of it, some academies of high 
merit and established reputation. The embryo university, without 
apparatus and without a competent number of teachers to perform 
the labors of the university, could, after all the patronage of the 
State, offer little to draw students from these established, well 
known schools, to come to Chapel Hill. It was by no means evi- 
dent that Mr. Caldwell was superior to those well tried teachers : 
he might not even be equal, and at the best there was little proba- 
bility that he would immediately surpass any of these academies. 
There was the school of David Caldwell in Guilford, in active 
operation, sending out its pupils to be divines, physicians and law- 
yers, and ultimately professors in institutions and judges of the 
courts : the public were not sure that Joseph Caldwell could equal, 
much less excel him. And then there was the academy of Dr. 
McCorkle, one of the Board of Trustees, a man of literature and 
reading, kept in the bounds of Thyatira congregation, near to Sal- 
isbury. And a little further on -was the school of Rev. Mr. Wal- 
lis, at Providence, twelve miles from Charlotte, a man of logical 
mind, connected with a vehement spirit, afterwards a member of 
the Board of Trustees. And next the school in Bethany, Iredell 
county, under the direction of the well known servant of God, the 
Rev. Capt. James Hall, D.D., the soldier of the Revolution, and 
the leading domestic missionary of the South. Next, the school 
at Rocky River, from which many excellent men came. And next, 
in the mountains, now a part of Tennessee, was Martin Academy, 
planted by Mr. Doak, and by him enlarged to a college, the nur- 
sery of many professional men. To these add the public acade- 
mies of Charlotte, Mecklenburg, which occupied the place of 
Liberty Hall and Queen's Museum ; the Academy in Duplin, 
which has been more or less flourishing; Science Hall, near 
Hillsboro' ; Warrenton Academy, under Mr. George, who, with 
Bingham and Kerr, were graduates of Trinity College, Dublin ; 
Granville Hall, and the academies in Edcnton, Newbern and 
Oiislo\». In all these different places it had been customary for 



544 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

young men to complete their classic education, if, througli want of 
funds or other circumstances, they did not seek for further instruc- 
tion at Nassau Hall, or some New England or foreign college. 
And it could not immediately appear that Chapel Hill, with the 
name of University, could do more for the pupils, or as much as 
some of these institutions. 

2d. In the next place the Board of Trustees were almost en- 
tirely unacquainted with the system of management proper for an 
University. The only Literary and Scientific institution of any 
importance in the management of which any of them had been en- 
gaged was Liberty Hall, unfortunately of too short duration, on 
account of the invasion of Cornwallis. Many of them had never 
even been members of a well endowed college, having received 
their education at one of these Academies, or at some institution of 
a similar kind. Mr. Caldwell probably understood the proper 
management of a University better than the whole Board by whom 
he was to be guided, and to whose will he not unfrequenlly with 
reluctance yielded, till longer acquaintance convinced them of the 
propriety of listening to his counsels in things pertaining to the dis- 
cipline of the students, and the course of studies. The plan of 
studies at first proposed partook of the spirit of the day, and is 
mentioned not as singular, for all public institutions felt the shock, 
but as a part of that peculiar influence on a new institution, mould- 
ing its form and directing its course, more decidedly than it could 
have done with an University or college of long standing. From 
a card published by a Committee of the Board in the North Caro- 
lina Journal of December 12th, 1792, is the following extract: — 
" The objects to which it is contemplated to turn the attention of 
the students, on the first establishment, are the study of languages, 
particularly the English ; History, ancient and modern ; the Belles 
Lettres ; Logic and Moral Philosophy ; Agriculture and Botany, 
with the principles of Architecture." This list of studies is faulty, 
not in what it embraces, but in .what it leaves out. There was a 
disposition then growing in the United States to put a lower esti- 
mate on the acquisition of what are called the " Dead Languages,''' 
than had been previously the habit of colleges consecrated by im- 
memorial usage, or than is now put on them by universal consent. 
It was more difficult to displace them from their seat of preemi- 
nence in established colleges, than to introduce them to an institu- 
tion from which they had been excluded. Had Joseph Caldwell 
attempted to build the University on the principle of giving the 
Dead or Classic languages a lower place than Logic or Belies Let- 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 545 

tres, or the English language, the University would not now be 
that flourishing institution, the ornament of the State. He must 
gain the confidence of a Board who were prepared cheerfully to em- 
ploy him as the teacher of youth, but not at all ready to receive 
from his hands the actual direction of the whole course of study 
and general discipline. One glance at the subject will show the 
difficulty involved in the situation of the young professor. How 
many trials must be made ; how many years pass before he could 
gain that hold on the confidence of the trustees and the commu- 
nity at large, to enable him to put the University on a firm founda- 
tion of usefulness and success. It is interesting to look at the 
progress of the confidential feeling that commenced immediately on 
his entrance upon the duties of his office. After acting one year 
as Professor of Mathematics and the head of the institution, he re- 
signed the supcrintendance, and held the office of Professor of 
Mathematics ; his successor failing to gain the confidence of the 
Board, Mr. Caldwell was induced to become head professor again 
in 1799. In 1804 he was elected to the office of President, being 
the first to fill that chair in the University. In 1812 he resigned 
that office, and confined himself to the Mathematical department ; 
but his successor, as in the former instance, failing to gain the con- 
fidence necessary to give efficiency to his discipline and instruc- 
tion, Mr. Caldwell was again called to the chair, in 1816, and con- 
tinued to hold the office till the day of his death, Tuesday, Jan- 
uary 27th, 1835. It was under his management that the Univer- 
sity grew from a high school to the flourishing condition in which 
his successor found it so favorable for his talents and energy to 
make it a blessing to his native State in the education of her sons. 
The third difficulty was perhaps the more perplexing, requiring 
prudence, forbearance, and yet great resolution, together with con- 
fidence, the child of experience and trial ; this was the religious 
state of the university and of the public mind at the time Mr. 
Caldwell became Professor. It is now a matter of history in 
philosophy, politics, and religion, that the discussion that had been 
progressing in France, in which all religious things had undergone 
the same revolutionizing scrutiny as the errors in politics and the 
misrule of the government, reached America some time previous 
to Mr. Caldwell's connection with the University. The whole 
subject of religion was investigated anew. The arguments against 
the Bible were set forth in formidable array ; Paine's Age of Rea- 
son passed from hand to hand, and the Infidel productions of 
France flooded the country ; the strongest holds of religion were 
35 



546 SKETCHES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

shaken ; and in many places the arguments for reason, as para- 
mount to revelation, gained a temporary victory. Where there 
were faithful and learned ministers of the gospel the battle was 
fierce ; where there were none, the infidel argument for a time 
possessed undisputedly the public mind. In France there were 
hurtful, degrading superstitions, and wrongs, and outrages, justified 
openly in the view of the nation by antiquity and the claims of 
religion, on which the excited revolutionary multitude fed and fat- 
tened to madness ; and in tearing down the gross deceptions that 
liad been built up through the land as castles, and convents, and 
tithes, and orders of prelates, and of nobility, without number or 
mercy, they set fire to the whole edifice of religion in France, and 
in the dreadful conflagration of ignorance, and superstition, and 
misrule, and notorious falsehood, they verily believed the Everlast- 
ing Word had perished. The gospel had, in the opinion of the 
Infidel party, gone with the royal house and the nobility ; and 
France expected liberty "when the neck of the last king was 
strangled by the bowels of the last priest." 

In America there were no such evils. The Revolution had 
swept off the political wrongs and the civil misrule, and what- 
ever there was, in the different States, of oppression in reli- 
gious things. There were no superstitious or hereditary wrongs 
in sacred things to search out ; no time-honored observances 
to undo ; no lost rights of conscience to recover. The ques- 
tion was, whether tlie Bible was true ; and all the influence 
of France, fresh from her sympathies m our contest for liberty, 
and hot in her struggle for her own, and fervid in her pursuit of 
science, of fashion, and gaiety, was tlirown against the Bible. In 
France they were already wicked ; and the sweeping away of 
superstition gave relief from oppression, and the commission of 
some sin's ; and France appeared to the philosopher to be regene- 
rated by the change. In America the war against the Bible proved, 
in the end, a war against morality and domestic enjoyments, and 
wherever infidelity got the mastery, there the community suffered. 
In France rivers of blood washed out the stains of Atheism ; in Ame- 
rica the voice of the Bible and the claims of society were at length 
heard, and without bloodshed or civil commotion, religion, the reli- 
gion of the Bible, regained her ascendency. The evil was great, 
but the remedy has been sure. There was a time when the best 
men feared lest infidelity should first get the mastery as in France, 
and then rivers of American blood wash* out the stains. It was 
while infidelity, of which Paine's Age of Reason was a text-book, 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 547 

was striding our land, the University went into operation. The 
•first professor, Mr. Kerr, who had been a Presbyterian minister, 
and had preached in Fayetteville some two years after his arrival 
in this country, had abandoned the belief in inspiration, and while 
■he was at Chapel Hill was an infidel. Holmes, his assistant 
teacher, and subsequently a professor of languages, had also given 
up the gospel, and its hopes, and was a believer in Paine, whose 
writings he so highly prized, that the only volume he gave the 
University library, contained the works of that arch-infidel. This 
unbelief was no silent exercise of his own opinion permitting the 
community to go on in the belief and practice of Christianity, each 
man acting as he might choose ; in the communication drawn up 
by the Faculty requesting his dismission from the University, they 
say, " he teaches that there is no such thing as virtue ; that the 
love of virtue is no more than superstition, degrading to the minds 
of men, and not sure to answer their purposes. That to shake off 
its obligations, and bend with ease to the character and circum- 
stances of the times so as to advance our own interest or ambition, 
is the best morality. That therefore, for any person to profess to 
be governed by the fixed principles of justice or honor, of truth or 
generosity, is sufficient to stamp him as a hypocrite and a designing 
-knave, "that is lying in wait under these characters for the happiness 
of others." Kerr left the University in 1795, and Holmes in 1799. 
While multitudes in Carolina were, as in other parts of the 
United States, prepared first to doubt and then to disbelieve the 
Bible, and consequently to set aside religion as a superstition, 
few were prepared to go the length of Paine and his disciple 
Holmes, and deny the existence of moral virtue. And when the 
matter was fairly presented by the amiable and clear minded 
-Caldwell, the board of trustees felt that if rejecting tlie Bible was 
rejecting morality, the Bible with all the objections tliat had been 
urged, must be retained. Mr. Caldwell'tells us that he looked to 
General Davie, one of the leaders of the Legislature, " the father 
of the house " as he was styled, that session of the Legislature 
he attended soon after his arrival in Carohna, and that he was a 
warm friend, supporter, and trustee of the University. He tells 
us that he had long and most interesting comnmnications with 
him on the subject of the truth of the Scriptures, and that his 
mind was deeply impressed with the conversation. Davie had 
been taught in his youth to believe the Bible, had passed through 
ihe Revolution with honor, doing good service for his country in 
the. camp, was high in the respect of liis constituents, and had 



548 SliETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

fallen from his belief in the Bible taught him by his maternal 
uncle, the Rev. William Richardson, whose name he bore, and 
whose estate he inherited, more probably by sympathy with the 
popular distrust, than by argument. Caldwell gained his confi- 
dence and possessed his friendship to the last, reviving the belief 
of his youth ; and who can say but that, like the hero of the Cow- 
pens, he at last looked to Jesus and found life. Harris, who di- 
rected the attention of the trustees to Mr, Caldwell as his suc- 
cessor, was at that time himself shaken in his belief, and thought 
the Bible was to be abandoned. But his young successor stood 
up for the gospel of Christ ; all that he saw of the fruits and 
workings of infidelity only turned his heart more strongly to his 
God and Saviour. "Religion," he says, in 1797, soon after his 
arrival, " is so little in vogue and in such a state of depression, 
that it affords no prospect sufficient to tempt people here to un- 
dertake its cause. In New Jersey it has the public respect and 
support ; but in North Carolina, particularly in that part that lies 
east of us, eveiy one believes that the first step he ought to take 
to rise into respectability is to disavow, as often and as publicly 
as he can, all regard for the leading doctrines of the Scriptures. 
They are bugbears very well fitted to scare the mass of the ig- 
norant, and the weak, into order and obedience to the laws ; but 
for men of letters and cultivated reason, the laws of morality and 
honor should, and will be sufficient for the regulation of their 
conduct." 

" How unhappy is it for these men, and how instructive to the 
rest of mankind, that the whole tenor of their lives, and the 
wretched state of their society, combine to exhibit their doctrines 
in all their haggardness and shocking deformity." This strong 
disgust to infidelity from its effects was not confined to the Pro- 
fessor ; there being no superstitions and erroneous observances to 
be thrown off", by a rejection of the religion of Protestant Carolina, 
the denial of the Bible could only weaken the sanctions of virtue 
and morality, and taking away the fears of future retribution, take 
away the fear of crime. This fact staring the community in the 
face, gave the amiable Professor the advantage in his argument ; 
the thinking and intelligent were made to feel they needed some- 
thing like the Bible, which men should believe to be true, to hold 
society together. Caldwell was not what is termed a genius, and 
probably it is well he was not ; but with clearness and meekness, he 
could and did defend the religion of his Lord and Master, in a most 
difficult position, the number of trustees that were at that time firm 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 549 

supporters of the Bible being few, though there were some. Whether 
he could have raised the University^ had he yielded to the wave 
that went over the land and swept off so many, we need not now 
inquire ; but this is certain, he fought a great battle without noise, 
and gained a great victory without triumphing ; and permitted the 
anxiety of the contest, and the blessedness of the victory, to pass 
along the current of events without exclamation, or demand from 
his coevals or posterity. We may say of him, as was said of a 
modest and noble Virginian, by the Speaker of the House — " Sit 
down, sir, sit down, your modesty is equalled only by your 
worth." 

The last difficulty was, the smallness of tlie funds and the inade- 
quate support yielded by the patronage of the State. The funds 
appropriated by the State were, in part, soon withdrawn, and the 
rest, together with the donations of individuals, were, for a time, 
unproductive. It was not till 1811, that by an excursion through 
the Slate, and making application to individuals, a listof whose names 
he preserved, and the amount of their individual donations, he ob- 
tained funds toerect buildings sufficient to accommodate the students. 
In the excursion, he received $12,000. Notwithstanding all this, 
there was great difficulty in obtaining sufficient means to afford a 
proper support for the necessary teachers. The wonder is, in 
looking over the small salaries given for the great labor required, 
in a situation that offered little attractive in the forests of Carolina, 
that able men could be obtained to bring talents, and acquirements, 
and labor adequate to the demands of the rising institution. How 
could a President, whose doors must be open to a succession of 
visitors, sustain himself on a thousand dollars a year, and get his 
own library — and the professors and tutors on a proportionable 
salary — when a library itself costs some thousands of dollars ? 
It is a matter of surprise that men could be found to attempt, and 
more so, that they should succeed in, such an enterprise. 

Happy in the choice of his assistant Faculty, and blessed with 
invincible perseverance, he rejoiced to see all these difficulties 
overcome. In 1824 he was sent to Europe " in order to direct in 
person the construction of a Philosophical Apparatus, and to select 
books for the library." At his death he left the University, still 
limited in its means, with buildings for the accommodation of a 
large number of students, with funds for the honorable support of 
the instructors, with a respectable library and apparatus, and an 
able Faculty. When he went to Chapel Hill, in 1796, it was 
doubtful whether anything was to be gained in literary advantages 



550 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

at the Hill over the private schools and p\iblic academies in the 
State ; and certain that the morals and principles of the young- 
men were in great danger from the infidel principles that prevailed 
among the teachers : — When he died, January 27th, 1835, it was 
the best institution in the State for a complete classical or scientific 
course, held a respectable stand abroad, and in point of morals as 
safe as any in the land, and increasing in its reputation. So it is 
now ; and so may it be for ever. 

It was affirmed that the building of the University exemplified 
the genius of Presbyterianism. This it does in the following par- 
ticulars : 1st, It shows the unconquerable attachment of its clergy 
to a sound and liberal education of youth : 2d, their ability to rear 
a proper institution in very unpropitious circumstances : 3d, their 
invincible attachment to sound principles of religion and morality : 
and 4th, their public spirit ; that, while it was well known the 
University never could become a Presbyterian institution, or be 
under the direction of that denomination, but, on the contrary, 
would belong to the State, and very likely always be under a board^ 
the large majority of whom should not be Presbyterians, and an 
equal proportion of the Faculty, or even all, might at any time be 
adverse to Presbyterian creed and order, the efforts to make the 
institutions of the State worthy of the State, and safe for her sons, 
were unremitted and unequalled. Let religion, and science, and 
morality, and literature prevail in the Alma Mater of the future 
children of Carolina, and Joseph Caldwell was satisfied : if his 
denomination, which he loved, might not have its control, let it be 
controlled by whom it may, only let the streams that flow from it 
be pure. 

The false notions of what constituted education for young meny 
that prevailed in the early part of his labors, might have been men- 
tioned as a serious difficulty for our young professor to encounter. 
In the year 1797, one warm friend of the University, a member of 
the board, of high political standing, sent up to Chapel Hill, with 
letters of introduction to Mr. Caldwell, and high recommendation 
of excellence in his profession, a dancing-master, to teach the boys 
manners, with expressions of a hope that the students, with the 
youths in the neighborhood, would form a school of sufficient in- 
come to secure the services of this eminent gentleman, with his 
little son. This was not done in opposition to Mr. Caldwell ; 
there is every evidence of frankness and candor and conviction of 
propriety in the gentleman. The difficulty was, that very many 
in the board who wished well to the institution, did not understand 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 551 

fully what a proper education was ; how much attention should be 
given to the mental, and how much to the physical training ; or 
even what this training should be. By his kindness and firmness, 
Mr. Caldwell kept the confidence of the board, and led them to the 
establishment of a sound and liberal course of education, that may 
advantageously compare with other institutions ; and under the in- 
fluence of strict, religious, and elevated morality. Such a man is 
an ornament of his church and generation. 

Previous to his removal to Chapel Hill, he had been licensed to 
preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick ; and while perform- 
ing the office of professor and president, he did not forget the 
preaching of the Gospel. He judged it impolitic to take charge of 
any congregation in the neighborhood ; and in that he doubtless 
judged rightly ; but he also judged it proper to preach the gospel 
to his students, and occasionally, abroad, as he had opportunity. 
As there was no regularly organized Presbyterian church in the 
university, and Mr. Caldwell did not choose to be connected with a 
congregation in the neighborhood, and the Synod of the Carolinas 
being particularly opposed to ordaining without charge, no effectual 
steps were taken for his ordination, till the year 1810; when the 
Presbytery of Orange overtured Synod for leave to ordain Mr. 
Joseph Caldwell of the university ; and the Synod, in consideration 
of his usefulness being, in all probability, greatly increased, author- 
ized the ordination. The next year his name appears upon the 
records of Synod, reported from Orange Presbytery. This year 
(1811) he made his circuit through the State, to collect funds, and 
everywhere made a favorable impression, as a man, a Christian, 
a minister, and the head of the university. Having received the 
degree of A.M. at the university and also at his Alma Mater, the 
honorary title of D.D. was conferred by both institutions ; that from 
Nassau Hall bears date in 1816, the year he was the second time 
chosen president. In 1812 he resigned his office as president, 
and aided in procuring Rev. Robert H. Chapman as his successor ; 
but a vacancy occurring by the resignation of Dr. Chapman, he was 
recalled to the chair, and filled it to the day of his death. 

Dr. Caldwell might, from the specimens of preaching he gave 
from time to time, have exxelled as a pastor, had his whole time 
been given to preaching and the pastor's office. Plainness, simpli- 
city and kindness, characterized his discourses ; often great strength 
and distinctness were mingled in an interesting manner. He wrote 
and published a variety of essays on the subject of the improvement 



552 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of the mind, and the soil ; the citizens, and their State. On the 
subject of common schools, he was read with interest ; and his 
essays on improving the State by roads, had an acknowledged effect. 
But his great work by which he was, and is to be known, was the 
building the University ; leaving to the State, at the conclusion of a 
• laborious life, an institution worthy of his labors and their fostering 
care. 

If a man's talents are to be judged by the works he accomplishes. 
Dr. Caldwell will be adjudged a man of talents. If the excellency 
and permanency of the works accomplished are a standard of the 
degree of talents, then the father of the university will not hold a 
low place. He was not esteemed a genius by his contemporaries, or 
looked upon as a man of splendid performances ; but when his 
plans and operations are compared with his contemporaries, poste- 
rity will judge that he had excellences the exertion of which could 
not be fully tested till years had tried the permanency of his works, 
and which will give him a place among the worthies of the Presby- 
terian church, and the benefactors of his race. 

But while he was acting on the most enlarged principles and 
views, he did not suffer himself to be led by generalities to forget 
particulars ; laboring for the whole State, he did not forget that he 
was a Presbyterian, and a Presbyterian minister. He strongly advo- 
cated and encouraged the institute at Greensborough, which, in 
honor to him for his services to literature and religion, was named 
CaldwclVs Institute, to be a high school, under the especial care 
and discipline of the Presbyterians, in which teaching the doctrines 
of the Presbyterian church, in connection with the Bible, should 
form part of the regular exercises on the Sabbath. He thought it 
due both to the church and to the community, that such an institu- 
tion should be established ; and the location of it should be in the 
county where some of the earliest Presbyterian congregations were 
formed, and where the trials of the Revolution had been known. 
He also schemed a plan for a theological institution to be located 
somewhere in the upper country of Carolina, in which his sound 
judgment and practical mind were eminently displayed. But as the 
theological department, in connection with Hampden Sydney, had 
been the nursery of many preachers in Carolina, and was, about that 
time, in progress of being enlarged to a full and complete seminary, 
after a full and free discussion, he laid by his plan, and united with 
the Synod of Carolina in giving support to Union Seminary. And 
no man acquainted with the usefulness of Caldwell Institute or 



REV, JOSEPH CALDWELL, 553 

Union Theological Seminary, in training and sending out laborious 
servants of the church and public, can for a moment doubt the sound- 
ness of his conclusions, or fault his anticipations from these semina- 
ries. 

The active part he took in the internal improvement of the State, 
publishing frequently on the subject in the regular papers, was on 
the principle that the produce of the mountains and upper country 
of Carolina should seek the ocean through a port on the sea shore 
of the State ; and for this purpose passways should be opened from 
the east and west, sufficient to encourage agriculture and popula- 
tion ; the products of the west should be the riches of the east ; and 
the enterprise of the east should reward the labors of the west. 
The soundness of these principles will one day be discussed again 
in Carolina. 

Of Dr. Caldwell's personal religious experience we have an ac- 
count of much that is interesting, in his own handwriting, though 
less in quantity than could be desired. He commenced in the lat- 
ter part of his life, an autobiography, which he carried on till the 
period of his journey to Chapel Hill, in 1796 ; then it closed ab- 
ruptly. From that manuscript most of the facts respecting his early 
life have been derived. From that is derived the following infor- 
mation respecting the exercises of his mind and heart. 

The first religious exercises, which were esteemed by him worthy 
of notice, as religious exercises, were felt while he resided with his 
mother at Bristol. The escape from a watery death has been men- 
tioned, and also his mother's kind treatment. He says the alarm at 
the thoughts of immediate death was inexpressible, and led him 
to pious resolutions : but, " the feelings gradually faded from my 
thoughts, and I lived as heedlessly as ever." — " But a circumstance 
which most impressively marks this period, is, that here 1 began, 
for what reasons I know not, to turn my thoughts, with greater 
earnestness than before, on the subject of religion. A part of the 
time while I was in this village, my mother went abroad, leaving 
me to board at a neighbor's table. This was so near, that one of the 
rooms in the house, which she occupied, was left open for my use, 
both day and night. There 1 slept ; and whenever I chose, to this 
I retired. Fgot hold of a religious book, and finding it gave me 
pleasure in the reading, I would sit, or traverse the room alone, 
reading with an interest that grew so as utterly to preclude every 
disposition to stop. My feelings were excited by it, and they grew 
into ardor and intensity. I deserted all amusement. My readings 



554 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

my reflections, and a gratifying sense that I might be engaged in 
the service of God and have his approbation, abstracted me from 
any of the diversions that occurred to my mind." 

" My experience at that time was probably one of the first fruits 
of the pious sentiments which my mother had instilled into me from 
the first dawnings of reason. She was not there ; but the spirit of 
God was, doubtless, fostering these principles in my heart, and re- 
ducing them into action. I have since reverted to the few days 
which passed in these circumstances, and with these emotions alive 
in my bosom, as among the most grateful seasons of my life, and to 
be remembered with renovated satisfaction." 

" While living in Newark my religious impressions were often 
renewed. 1 do not know that I resisted them, or strove to repress 
or shake them off, but it is very certain that at various times when 
they had been felt with much force, alarm of conscience, and a dis- 
solving tenderness of affection, they soon passed away, and I be- 
came as thoughtless and careless as ever. Dr. M'Whorter's preach- 
ing was generally animated, plain and practical. He sometimes 
became warm, pointed the guilty sinner to the coming wrath, showed 
the danger of growing hardened to all the considerations of God's 
mercy, his justice, his judgments, the means of grace, the opportu- 
nities of improvement, the uncertainty of life, dread consequences 
of failing to prepare in this time of discipline and probation for the 
eternity that is to follow\ I would come home like the wounded 
hart, with the arrow in my side ; but it dropped off, the wound 
closed, and it ceased to be remembered." 

Again the Dr. says of himself, in his review of his early life: — 
" I can remember many occasions in those early years, in the vari- 
ous places in w-hich they w'ere passed, when my reflections were 
directed on God, a future state, and the eternal world. The interest 
I took in theui when they were impressed upon me by the scriptures, 
or by any other cause, was the same in its aspect and species as it 
has been through late years. The intervals sometimes are apparent 
as to their cause, and sometimes they seem to have become irrecov- 
erably lost to my remembrance. Whether they had a connection 
with one another, and by what ties of circumstances, or thought, or 
emotion, as they were successively renewed, it would be impossible 
for me to determine, though to the spirit of God who produced them 
and witnessed all their effects, they are present now as at the mo- 
ment when they agitated my bosom." Sometimes I would return 
from church with a heart deeply affected with the considerations 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL, 555 

presented there of my obligations to God for his goodness in the 
ordinary blessings of food and raiment, relations and friends, health 
and pleasm-es, connected with it. Conscience impressed upon me 
portentously the consequences of my thoughtless ingratitude. The 
prospects of heaven to the good, and the endless misery of the wicked, 
drove from me, for a time, every wish for the amusements on which 
I was conmionly intent." 

" The love of God in sending his Son into the world to redeem 
me from death, and open the way to Heaven, combined with all its 
force in impressing my conscience with the responsibility imposed 
by this consummation of mercy. My inother was often engaged in 
giving me religious instruction, and deepening its i?npr€ssion upon 
my heart. Sometimes an accident would happen to set before me 
the utter uncertainty in which I lived. The death of a neighbor, by 
sickness, or by some sudden accident, the grave-yard, the darkness 
of night, when in solitude, naturally plunging my thoughts into the 
spiritual world ; everything of this nature exerted in me a sense of 
religion, a reference to God, and to the danger I was in of being lost 
for ever if I should die without being made the subject of his sav- 
ing grace. It was all the striving of his spirit to prevent me from 
being wholly engrossed with the earth, and to educate me in the 
school of his providence for better and more glorious purposes than 
the interests and pleasures of a mere earthly existence. An excel- 
lent practical writer on Keeping the Heart, remarks, that Provi- 
dence is like a curious piece of tapestry, made of a thousand shreds 
which, single, appear useless, but put together they represent a re- 
gular and connected history to the eye." 

While residing with Mr. Austin in Elizabethtown, these impres- 
sions were ripened into the. deep conviction, that it was his duty to 
devote himself to the services of God in the gospel of Christ, How 
far he fulfilled the covenant of his devotion and performed the duties 
of a Christian Minister to his fellow-man, his services in the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina will abundantly testify. 

In one of the elegant society rooms in the University is a bust of 
Dr. Caldwell, taken after his death, and a portrait drawn in his ear- 
lier years. The bushy eyebrows, and overhanging forehead, and 
calm countenance of the bust, impress the beholder with the power 
of reflection, self-possession, and uashaken firmness, combined with 
an amiable disposition. 

There is a monument erected for him near the College buildings, 
in the beautiful grove, but at present it is without an epitaph. The 



556 SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

omission was undesigned. But could the generation with whom he 
lived write his epitaph ? 

He wrote his biography, or rather, began to write it, in his old 
age. In that, as we have seen, he refers with tenderness and emo- 
tion to the fervency of his early experience. From that single 
circumstance, we should be satisfied that the pure flame was burning 
with the brightness of youth and the intensity of experienced age. 
The testimony of others is, that " the nearer he approached his God, 
he but loved him the more." It is not improbable that, in his mul- 
tiplied duties, his personal piety may for a time h_ave suffered ; his 
friends have thought it did ! They may have been mistaken. But 
the same friends also thought that, in his advanced years, the flame 
burned more brightly on the altar of devotion, and that he became 
more lovely as he became more heavenly minded. 

As the University increased in numbers, and the students could be 
admitted to a much less degree of intimate acquaintance, it is very 
probable the President, looked at from the distance of pupils that 
saw him more in the executive duties of his offiice, and less in his 
domestic tenderness, appeared more stern than kind, more resolute 
than forbearing. That the government of the University was an unit, 
and the President was really that unit, after consultation, cannot, 
perhaps, be denied, — it was never concealed nor boasted of. " Were 
I to live," said one who had served under him in the University, 
" under one who governed with despotic sway, I would choose 
Dr. Caldwell before any other man I have known." Befoie the 
discipline of the University was settled upon its firm basis, which 
was a work of years, an outbreak among the students gave an ex- 
hibition of Dr. Caldwell. For some unusual delinquency, the Dr. 
had determined upon discipline unusually severe. This caused great 
excitement. The delinquents and their friends determined on resist- 
ance, and mistaking the Doctor's disposition, proposed to intimidate 
him as their remedy in the last resort. As he was returning from 
the chapel to his residence, they met him at the mouth of the ravine 
near his dwelling, now filled, and clamorously demanded some relax- 
ation of his terms. He heard their demands, and calmly refused, 
and resumed his course ; in their excitement, they swung their canes 
as if for an attack, and some of them were athletic young men, and 
appeared to be closing round him, that he should go no further till 
he relented. With an unruffled countenance he moved on, saying — 
" Strike, young gentlemen, but remember the consequences." Al- 
though, in physical strength, he was altogether in their power, the 



REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL. 557 

young men felt that he was unconquerable and irresistible, and gave 
up the contest. To many of the students it is probable that he ap- 
peared rather the unconquerable President than the amiable man. 
But others beside his family knew that kindness was his nature, and 
severity the conviction of his judgment. 



P. S. — Materials for additional chapters are in readiness, but 
the size of the present volume forbids their publication. These 
materials, together with a selection from sermons by Hall, Caldwell, 
M'Gready, M'Pheeters and. ottiers, would form an instructive 
volume 



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